tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30548249419121115552024-02-19T06:05:00.510-05:00Mode A La Pieandrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-73849409906815697232011-01-03T10:00:00.027-05:002011-01-03T10:00:04.217-05:00Jessica McClintock is So 1998<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/willwork4promdress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/willwork4promdress.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Forget the limo, corsage, mediocre chicken dinner ... every girl knows that when it comes to prom, only two things matter: the dress and the date. Quigley and Ann have a plan for their formal wear: working as many odd jobs as they can get to save up for the most gorgeous gowns frozen-pizza-factory money can buy. As for boys? Ann always has a few names on her dance card, but Quigley is a little less sure of who she might want to slow dance with. That is, until Ann's mom hires the girls to work as fit models for her fashion design class at RISD. Art student Xander is cute, sweet, and (supposedly) straight—a potential prom date and dress designer all in one. But is he the one for Quigley?<br />
<br />
<i>Will Work for Prom Dress</i> is funny and cute, if a bit sold short by its title. There are other things going on, like Quigley's struggle to get into her dream college and Ann's less-than-perfect relationships with her famous parents. It does all start to come a bit unraveled toward the end, but overall this is a fun read and one that I would recommend if you're looking for something more than the usual cookie-cutter characters.<br />
<br />
<i>Reviewed from an ARC sent by the publisher. </i>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-48189452049405451102010-12-31T13:44:00.000-05:002010-12-31T13:44:43.688-05:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/champagne-pola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/champagne-pola.jpg" width="329" /></a></div>Merry 2011 to you all! And bonus well wishes to anyone who can name the book that contains one of my most favorite NYE scenes:<br />
<br />
<i>We cleaned the house, finished making the snacks and dessert, and decorated the living room. Mom pulled out a box filled with corny New Year's stuff—funny hats, horns, even a cardboard baby wearing a diaper, and a banner. The banner read, "1979." I hung it on the wall anyway, since I thought it was cool.</i><br />
<br />
My night (according to the text message invite I received yesterday) will be filled with "hangouts, wine, and a whole roast chicken." Until then, I will be doing laundry and reading <i>Mary Anne's Revenge</i> from the BSC Friends Forever spin-off series, which I just received via Paperback Swap. Buona sera!andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-14378879638465342462010-10-20T18:31:00.000-04:002010-10-20T18:31:29.629-04:00Crooked Spin Can't Come to Rest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/krs541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/krs541.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>OK, so kind of a break from our regularly scheduled YA books / girlytime programming.<br />
<br />
I got an email from Amazon.com announcing the release of <a href="http://www.buyolympia.com/killrockstars/item=krs541">an Elliott Smith "greatest hits" collection of sorts being put out by Kill Rock Stars</a>. From about age 19 to 22, I was pretty much obsessed with Elliott Smith. Then he died. I guess I'd still consider him my favorite musician of all time if you forced me to pick one.<br />
<br />
So here's their track list: <br />
01 Ballad of a Big Nothing<br />
02 Waltz #2<br />
03 Pictures of Me<br />
04 The Biggest Lie<br />
05 Alameda<br />
06 Between The Bars<br />
07 Needle In The Hay<br />
08 Last Call<br />
09 Angeles<br />
10 Twilight<br />
11 Pretty (Ugly Before)<br />
12 Angel In The Snow<br />
13 Miss Misery<br />
14 Happiness<br />
<br />
And here are my picks: <br />
01 Last Call (from Roman Candle)<br />
02 Needle in the Hay (from self-titled)<br />
03 The Biggest Lie (from self-titled)<br />
04 Between the Bars (from Either/Or)<br />
05 Angeles (from Either/Or)<br />
06 Say Yes (from Either/Or)<br />
07 Miss Misery (BIG HIT from Good Will Hunting)<br />
08 Waltz #2 (from XO)<br />
09 Son of Sam (from Figure 8)<br />
10 Everything Means Nothing to Me (from Figure 8)<br />
11 Happiness (From Figure 8)<br />
12 Pretty -Ugly Before- (from Basement on the Hill)<br />
13 A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free (from Basement on the Hill)<br />
<br />
They didn't do bad. But not including Say Yes—my all-time favorite <i>of ever</i>? Big mistake. Huge. And also, I never realized how '90s he looked. Love you, Elliott, seven years later.andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-52121383968006097382010-10-03T15:07:00.000-04:002010-10-03T15:07:14.225-04:00Nothing's Better than Friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0pAHGhga7d44lpfUMPT1CRESe8kbIc_3muaFyvRqIPlP7FZojRCA7UDCLffdrUy3TgjGa57Fleq6Jf4KjH6XN6JfR2KL9QZZWauvc5wwXDtxM1NPKoIUHo6iidU9BSrAvsTmaTFE0k0/s1600/sayhellostack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0pAHGhga7d44lpfUMPT1CRESe8kbIc_3muaFyvRqIPlP7FZojRCA7UDCLffdrUy3TgjGa57Fleq6Jf4KjH6XN6JfR2KL9QZZWauvc5wwXDtxM1NPKoIUHo6iidU9BSrAvsTmaTFE0k0/s320/sayhellostack.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>New in my Etsy shop: Say Hello to Your Friends, a <i>Baby-sitters Club</i> fanzine! This one has been in the works for a long time, but I just now finally got around to folding and stapling. For more information or to order, <a href="http://welshrabbit.etsy.com/">click here and visit the Welsh Rabbit shop</a>.<br />
<br />
From the introduction: "One of the last courses I took for my Master’s program in Library & Information Science was called Resources for Children … For one of our final assignments, we were to select a 'resource' (book, series, movie, song, etc.) that we loved as a child and reflect on the experience of revisiting it as an adult. Of course I had to write about the Baby-sitters Club. What follows is the actual text of the paper I turned in to my professor."andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-45895301757202096902010-09-17T10:00:00.014-04:002010-09-17T10:00:09.123-04:00Here Comes the Bride<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/inowpronounce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/inowpronounce.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Brownwen Oliver was switched at birth. At least, that's what she likes to tell herself. How else to explain the perfect, Jesus-like brother, the mom who dyed Bronwen's hair blond at 13, and all the disgusting ketchup-eating that goes on in their house? Back when her dad was alive, Bronwen felt like part of a real family. Now that he's gone and her mother has remarried, she's sure she must belong somewhere else.<br />
<br />
Enter Jared Sondervan. The summer after 11th grade, Bronwen falls in love with the cute, romantic college student, who happens to have a completely nice and normal family. He proposes to Bronwen on her 18th birthday, and she says yes! There's no rush for them to get married ... until suddenly there is. Now Bronwen has to decide between college life and married life, her life and her-life-with-Jared.<br />
<br />
Somewhere around chapter 4, <i>I Now Pronounce You Someone Else</i> really grabbed ahold of me. The progression of Bronwen and Jared's relationship is so natural that it almost makes sense for her to accept a marriage proposal before starting her senior year of high school. Even when in real life I would advise anyone against doing so. Thankfully, both Bronwen and Jared's parents provide the "You're So Young" argument, lest the reader worry that no one in this book realizes They're So Young. <br />
<br />
What none of the characters mention is what I think of as the whole "Getting Married ASAP So We Can Have Sex" phenomenon. Early in the book, Bronwen is dumped by another boyfriend because she won't do it with him, and later on she makes it clear to Jared that she doesn't want to have sex outside of marriage. I don't feel right accusing Jared (a fictional character, I realize) of proposing to Bronwen just so he can sleep with her, but I can't help but wonder if that plays a part in his rush to get married.<br />
<br />
So yeah, in spite of the super chick-lit cover, <i>I Now Pronounce You Someone Else</i> is not all bouquets and bows. Bronwen is dealing with identity issues, relationship issues, even daddy/stepfather issues, and author Erin McCahan doesn't shy away from exploring these in depth. You can read the book as a simple romance if you want, but if you're looking for more, it's there too.<br />
<br />
P.S. To celebrate the book's blog tour, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is <a href="http://goodbaduglyreviews.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-tour-i-now-pronounce-you-someone.html">giving away a copy</a> of <i>I Now Pronounce You Someone Else</i>!<br />
<br />
<i>Reviewed from an advance copy provided by BookSparks PR.</i>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-80125709676748561462010-08-21T17:00:00.000-04:002010-08-21T17:00:01.314-04:00Virgins and Brains<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/zombiesvsunicorns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/zombiesvsunicorns.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><i>Scene: My living room</i><br />
Boyfriend: [Pointing at ARC of <i>Zombies Vs. Unicorns</i>.] So what's the deal with that book, anyway? Is it out yet?<br />
Me: No. It's an advance copy.<br />
Boyfriend: Huh. I feel like there's been a lot of buzz about it.<br />
Me: There HAS been a lot of buzz about it. In our apartment! [Laughs maniacally.]<br />
<br />
Or something like that. Apparently I have a talent for (very small) niche marketing, which includes strategically placing books around 1BR apartments in order to project hype to their 30-year-old male inhabitants. But anyway, <i>Zombies Vs. Unicorns</i> is an anthology of 12 short stories edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier in an attempt to answer the "age-old" question: Which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? When Holly Black signed my copy at ALA, she asked which team I was on. Not knowing that she was captain of Team Unicorn, I replied, "Unicorns, but maybe after reading the book I'll be on Team Zombie." Oops.<br />
<br />
Now, after careful consideration, I'm kind of torn on the issue. I enjoyed an equal number of unicorn and zombie stories, but it was a unicorn tale—Diana Peterfreund's "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn"—that I loved best. Maybe it's because I was never allowed to have a dog and always fantasized about having a secret pet that I could hide in my closet or sock drawer. Other unicorn faves: "Purity Test" by Naomi Novik (drunken non-virgin saves a litter of baby unicorns) and "Princess Prettypants" by Meg Cabot (girl hoping to get a car for her 16th b-day is gifted a unicorn instead).<br />
<br />
Then again, Team Zombie has a lot to offer. Hilarity and an Angelina Jolie-like celebrity from Maureen Johnson ("Children of the Revolution"). Pirates and romance-novel intrigue from Carrie Ryan ("Bougainvillea"). Pop culture and high school crushes from Alaya Dawn Johnson ("Love Will Tear Us Apart").<br />
<br />
That's not even mentioning the stories by Scott Westerfeld, Libba Bray, and Cassandra Clare. I'd say it's a win-win situation overall.<br />
<br />
--<br />
On a personal note, I have a new job (yes, as a librarian!) and a new fiance (who was my boyfriend for a long while before that...including during the time when I originally wrote this post!). Both are going to require a lot of my attention over the upcoming months. I'll be blogging as much as is humanly possible, but that may not be as much as I'd like. Check Twitter for updates!andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-20732692566325913852010-07-31T10:00:00.001-04:002010-07-31T10:00:04.332-04:00Cup O Noodles<i>Ramen Girl</i>: A story in pictures, starring Brittany Murphy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl12.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl2.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl9.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/ramengirl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-28513021407353652832010-07-25T20:33:00.002-04:002010-07-25T20:34:44.475-04:00Shhh! SVH!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/teamelizabeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/teamelizabeth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
You probably knew that the Sweet Valley High series was re-released a couple years ago and that Diablo Cody is working on bringing it to the big screen. (I'm personally looking forward to seeing Enid all geek chic.) But did you know about <i>Sweet Valley Confidential</i>? It's <a href="http://www.sweetvalleytenyearslater.com/">Jessica and Elizabeth, 10 years later</a>! I think it's only one book, not a new series. It comes out in March, and I previewed the first chapter—not cause I'm a member of Pi Beta Alpha or on the <i>Oracle </i>staff or anything like that; anyone can sign up on the website to read it. However, in case you don't want to, I am happy to share the following tidbits of Elizabeth Wakefield's thoroughly depressing 27-year-old life:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>She has to have THREE locks on the door of her shitty apartment because she lives in New York, where it's like sooo dangerous;</li>
<li>She orders a PORK CHOP out at a restaurant and brings the leftovers home in a doggie bag;</li>
<li>Her purse is a Prada knockoff;</li>
<li>She works for a "throwaway" weekly covering the Off-Broadway scene (not even regular Broadway!) that's so cheap and unknown she has to buy show tickets at the TKTS booth or sneak in during intermission;</li>
<li>She considers sleeping with her boss, a nice guy with a great body (in the narrator's words). "Right from the start, Elizabeth could tell he was attracted to her. It had probably helped in the hiring, though she had decent credentials, but a little gratitude wouldn't hurt." Well, nothing says "thanks for hiring me for my looks" like a roll in the hay, right, Liz?</li>
<li>She recently had a "three-week mini affair spread out over two months" (huh?) during which she "cried after every orgasm." For real, that's what it says.</li>
<li>She listens to Beyonce and Justin Timberlake;</li>
<li>She sleeps in an oversized Sweet Valley T-shirt but lets people assume she's from LA;</li>
<li>And Bruce Patman is her best friend! </li>
</ul><br />
Also, she's out of ice cubes, and Jessica has done something to hurt her so deeply that she's turned into a sobbing basket-case. Oh, how the mighty fall. I can't decide if I'm dying to read the rest of this or glad I only had to suffer through 15 pages of a sneak peek.andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-84424011156527255862010-07-22T17:16:00.000-04:002010-07-22T17:16:33.325-04:00Gimme S'more<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/huge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/huge.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>Back in April and May, ALL the sixth grade girls were checking out <i>Huge</i> from the school library. I thought there must have been some kind of sexy scene they were passing around. (Cause the only book ALL the girls in my class checked out of the library back-to-back was <i>Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret</i>.) But then the ABC Family series based on the book came out this summer, and I figured maybe they were just more in the loop about these things than I was and wanted to get a jump start on the story before the show started? Having just finished the book myself, I still don't know. There is one paragraph about kissing that involves lips and tongues and a boy who tastes like popcorn. However, I'm not sure if that's scandalous enough for middle schoolers these days. I kind of hope so.<br />
<br />
I've watched all four episodes of the TV show so far (on Hulu), and I love it. Nikki Blonsky plays Wil, the girl who didn't want to go to fat camp and claims to be happy with her body just the way it is. At Camp Victory, she makes friends with shy, imaginative Becca and enemies with barely-overweight blond Amber (portrayed by the daughter of David Hasselhoff!). One of the great things about the show—in addition to the fact that it was co-developed by <i>My So-Called Life</i> creator Winnie Holzman—is that the characters are more than just cardboard cutouts. You don't totally hate Amber, and you don't totally love Wil. In fact, I think I may like Amber more than I like Wil. She's extremely pretty, and most of the guys at camp have crushes on her. But she's also the kind of girl people would call "big-boned," and because of it she has a lot of insecurities about herself. Sure, she's the Queen Bee at Camp Victory, but what about at home? I'm looking forward to seeing where they take her character in future episodes.<br />
<br />
On to the book. The only things it has in common with the TV show are (a) a fat girl named Wil and (b) a fat camp that she was sent to against her wishes. Book Wil is rich and spoiled and almost completely unlikable. She shares a room with April, the perky poor girl who saved up thousands of dollars on her own to go to Wellness Canyon. April is determined to lose weight in spite of the cookies her mom sends her at camp, and Wil is determined to put on some pounds as an eff-you to her fitness-obsessed parents. When the girls realize they both like the same guy (jock-y Colin, perhaps the basis for the Trent character on the TV show), they make a bet to see who can get him to like them back first. If April wins, she gets to keep Wil's iPod for the rest of the summer. If Wil wins, April has to eat all the junk food in 7-11.<br />
<br />
My recommendation? Stick with the TV show. The best thing about the book is the cover featuring some mighty delicious looking s'mores. Which are apparently a no-no at fat camp.andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-45019025204581481342010-06-30T11:43:00.002-04:002010-06-30T11:45:24.417-04:00Namedropper<a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/coffeeklatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/coffeeklatch.jpg" width="286" /></a>Last weekend was the annual ALA (American Library Association) conference in Washington, DC. It was my first time, and partially since I don't have a library to call my own just yet, I took the opportunity to mostly get excited over all the famous author readings/meetings/book-signings and free books.<br />
<br />
My favorite part was the YA Author Coffee Klatch on Sunday morning, which was basically like speed-dating with authors. There were six to eight librarians at a table, and every five minutes a new author would sit down to chat with us. I was a little nervous at the beginning, not knowing what to expect ... when all of a sudden who comes over to sit at my table but John Green and David Levithan! Like, two of the biggest superstars there. They were really funny and friendly, and I got this great photo of John Green smiling right at me. (David Levithan was talking, so I cropped him out.) Simone Elkeles, Holly Black, and Rick Yancey also stopped by, along with new-to-me-yet-seemingly-awesome authors <a href="http://www.carriejonesbooks.com/">Carrie Jones</a>, <a href="http://www.jessicadaygeorge.com/About/default.aspx">Jessica Day George</a>, and <a href="http://jameskennedy.com/about/">James Kennedy</a>.<br />
<br />
At the end of the event, all the authors got together for a big picture and were very nice about posing for photos with the librarians/fans. I got a shot with Libba Bray (this year's Printz winner, who was super sweet and even waved to me in the ladies room later on) and another with the Green/Levithan team, and I went total fangirl on poor Stephanie Kuehnert, although I was too shy to say anything intelligent or introduce myself as the writer of this blog who <a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2008/07/queen-of-rock-n-roll.html">interviewed her</a> via email a couple years back. (Seriously, I don't think I've ever spoken the words "my blog" out in public.)<br />
<br />
Later in the day I stood in line to get Holly Black's autograph—and snagged an advance copy of her new anthology <i>Zombies Vs. Unicorns</i>—and listened to Laurie Halse Anderson read from her upcoming historical fiction <i>Forge</i> (before waiting in line to get a signed copy of that). I don't think I'm leaving anything out, except the fact that my suitcase weighed an extra ton on the way home due to all the extra books. At least I was smart enough to only bring my Kindle for the trip down.andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-38905947225616235192010-06-22T21:36:00.002-04:002010-06-30T11:41:10.269-04:00Le Freak C'est Chic<a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/verylefreak.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/verylefreak.jpg" /></a><i>Le Freak</i> - Chic<br />
<br />
<i>Happy Birthday</i> - Stevie Wonder<br />
<br />
<i>S.O.S.</i> - ABBA<br />
<br />
<i>Untouchable Face</i> - Ani DiFranco<br />
<br />
<i>Oops, I Did it Again</i> - Britney Spears<br />
<br />
<i>The Jean Genie</i> - David Bowie<br />
<br />
<i>U Can't Touch This</i> - MC Hammer<br />
<br />
<i>Wannabe</i> - Spice Girls<br />
<br />
<i>What's Going On</i> - Marvin Gaye<br />
<br />
<i>Jenifa (Taught Me)</i> - De La Soul<br />
<br />
<i>I'm Your Boogie Man</i> - KC and the Sunshine Band<br />
<br />
<i>Psycho Killer</i> - Talking Heads<br />
<br />
<i>Rehab</i> - Amy Winehouse<br />
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<i>"She didn't classify herself as 'eclectic,' knowing that the mere self-classification of 'eclectic' musical tastes meant one's tastes were, in fact, anything but."</i><br />
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I made a playlist for Very LeFreak, Rachel Cohn's latest book, about a redheaded college girl who's wired 24/7 and ends up in rehab for her so-called "technology addiction." All these songs or artists are directly mentioned in the book as part of Very's constant need to bond with her iPod.<br />
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This one got a lot of disappointing reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and I think part of it is that Rachel Cohn's—and in this case, Very's—hyper-verbal-pop-culture style weirds people out. I, however, dig it. Especially because it fits perfectly with this character who's all about MORE, NOW, AGAIN, just like that Elizabeth Wurtzel book (which I haven't read). I didn't always feel that the story was so realistic, and Very is certainly not a lovable character, but I think that's part of the beauty of it. Also, the book made me think about how many dang times I check Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader like every hour when I'm home. At least for now I am sans smartphone. Going online on my cell is possible but not so super-easy that it's become a problem.<br />
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Also also: Very is not just an over-sharer slash online-shopper. She's a computer programmer who created her own social network. And a party-planner, and a flash mob-organizer...andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-34482765663689219472010-05-24T10:47:00.004-04:002010-06-30T11:46:40.719-04:00Come on, Give us a Smile<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN1047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN1047.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">So not only am I a librarian, but it turns out I'm also a rare book collector (!). Check out what I found yesterday in this awesome used book store on Maryland's Eastern Shore: a copy from the second American printing of The Bell Jar. From the front jacket flap:</div><br />
<i>At last Sylvia Plath's only published novel is available in her own country, eight years after it was published in England under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. This extraordinary work chronicles the crackup of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, enormously talented, successful—but slowly going under, and maybe for the last time...</i><br />
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<div style="font-family: inherit;">I have never seen it in hardcover, let alone with this super/creepy cover. If you've read the book, you know that scene where Esther has to have her picture taken for the magazine and they make her pose with a rose and she totally freaks out? Well, the back cover of the copy I just got shows the photo of Sylvia Plath with a rose that appeared in Mademoiselle's August 1953 issue.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN1050-Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN1050-Copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-78683171169706491982010-05-22T11:25:00.007-04:002010-06-30T11:36:43.870-04:00I am (Almost) a Librarian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/librarianstuff-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/librarianstuff-1.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">The countdown is on! Three weeks from today, I will graduate with my Master's degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS, to those of us in the business) and officially become a librarian. So what I am thinking about? All the cool stuff I can get to show off my new title. That way, even though I'm unemployed, everyone will know.</div><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">Clockwise from top left: <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/40344211/librarian-necklace">Librarian Necklace</a> from Brookadelphia ($35), <a href="http://www.fredflare.com/customer/product.php?productid=258&cat=252#">Librarian Pin</a> from Fred Flare ($10), for the dudes: <a href="http://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=guybrarian_guy">Sarah Utter Guybrarian Shirt</a> from Buyolympia.com ($14.95), <a href="http://awardemblem.com/5lic.html">Library & Media Center Guard Pin</a> from Award Emblem ($3.75), <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/opheliasart.59310029?CMP=SHOP-PF-GP-opheliasart.59310029">Lucha Librarian Tote Bag</a> from Ophelia's Art ($21.99).</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-63298638323910422272010-05-05T22:23:00.001-04:002010-06-30T11:35:52.835-04:00Death of Venus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/venus_madm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/venus_madm.jpg" width="152" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/venus_letigre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/venus_letigre.jpg" /></a>Eight years ago, back when I was a wannabe college journalist, <i>Venus</i> published my first ever music review. So it's always had a special place in my little writer heart, and as a reader, I've loved watching <i>Venus</i> grow. To go from a zine conceived in a freshman dorm to a mag sold in Barnes & Noble is something completely amazing, especially when that mag/zine manages to retain its sense of independence. Even when <i>Venus </i>was sold to new publishers and handed over to a new editor in chief, it still featured inspiring not-so-household-name cover stars like Cat Power, M.I.A., Dita von Teese, and Feist.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Last fall, <i>Venus </i>went on a bit of a hiatus. The website at venuszine.com didn't publish any new articles for a few months, and the future of the magazine was uncertain. I don't have any of the deets about what happened during that time, but at the other end of the tunnel was the Spring 2010 issue with Melissa Auf der Maur on the cover.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">I've been trying to collect my thoughts on this issue for a few weeks now. MAdM and the Baby-sitters Club, two of my faves, both got space on the cover, so I was psyched when my copy came in the mail. And after flipping a few pages in, I got my answer to how <i>Venus </i>had re-emerged from its hibernation in the form of a publisher's letter, in which the new head honcho writes, "I've always been a passionate advocate for other women." It's hard for me to put into words why this (and the general tone of the letter) rubs me the wrong way. Obviously women advocating for other women is a positive thing—but I guess it feels as if she's trying too hard to buddy up to us, the readers of this traditionally feminist publication. Like, why do you need to point out that you've "always been an advocate" for women? It sounds like something a politician would say.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Not to whine, but I'm gonna: There were a few other things about the issue that bothered me. Example #1: a blurb on five "girl-friendly apps" for the iPhone. The old Venus might have covered this same thing but questioned why these apps are targeted at women in the first place. Picks include something called Seafood Watch (health risks for women aged 18-45!) and NikeWomen Training Club. Really? Then there's a style section in which musician Kaki King fills out a questionnaire that asks her to name her favorite cosmetic products. Change K.K. to Katy Perry, and this could have been a piece in <i>Allure </i>or <i>Lucky</i>.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Venus </i>used to be about women in music. It expanded, and got better, when it started featuring women in art and fashion and books and film. But I'm afraid it's starting to be about women as consumers instead of creators. And today the magazine's staff sent out an email dropping the biggest bombshell of all: <i>Venus </i>is not going to be <i>Venus </i>for much longer. They're taking votes on the following possible new names: <i>Cake</i>, <i>Pepper</i>, <i>Spark</i>, and <i>Ditto</i>. Honestly, Venus has never been my favorite mag name (except when they called the men's pages "Penus"), and I know that there's actually another publication called <i>Venus</i>, which is why a couple of years ago the <i>Venus</i> of our discussion started officially calling itself <i>Venus Zine</i>. </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">I cast my ballot for <i>Pepper</i>. But I'm sad about the demise of my once-favorite mag. When a magazine changes publishers and names, it's pretty much a new magazine, right?</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-45183204429242179932010-04-17T15:29:00.003-04:002010-06-30T11:35:37.207-04:00The Kids are All Right<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/homecoming080108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/homecoming080108.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Some books you're supposed to read in ninth grade English but maybe you don't because they're so effing boring. (<i>The Grapes of Wrath</i>.) Some books you do read, and you tolerate them. Others totally take you by surprise—sure they're literary or whatever, but they're also <i>good</i>. You can't really relate to the characters' situations but you can relate to the way they feel. And 15 years later, you read them again, and they're still good. Maybe better.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Like <i>Homecoming</i>, by Cynthia Voigt. When I checked this out from the library to read for the <a href="http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/11/shelf-discovery-challenge-book-reports.html">Shelf Discovery Challenge</a>, I was intimidated by its length and seemingly tiny font size. For real, compared to the YA books I've been reading, it looked <i>hard</i>. Sometimes I can't believe the stuff I used to read for fun back in high school and college. (Like, <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>. I remember it as an awesome book, but these days I'd rather pick up the next installment of <i>The A-List</i>.) Still, right from the first page, <i>Homecoming </i>is riveting. Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy Tillerman are the most scrappy and resilient kids I know. After their mom abandons them in a mall parking lot, they basically walk across the whole state of Connecticut to get to their Great Aunt Cilla's house. AND THEN SHE'S NOT EVEN THERE. (Don't worry, that's not the end of the book, so if you haven't read it yet I didn't just spoil everything for you.)</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Julie Just's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/books/review/Just-t.html">recent New York Times article</a> decries the absence of parents, or "good" parents, in YA lit. Yes, I think the general lack of parenting in the genre is unrealistic. But one of the best things about YA lit is kids doing it on their own. Dicey realizes almost immediately that their mom isn't coming back and that it's up to her take care of her siblings. She doesn't go to the police, because she doesn't want them to be split up into different foster homes. Instead, she budgets what little money they have for food, studies maps for the best routes, lets people think she's a boy if it'll make the situation better. And she's only 13!</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">There's one part in the book when Dicey reads the epitaph on a gravestone that implies no one is ever really home until they're dead. Surviving as a nomad, she returns to this idea from time to time. Maybe she and her siblings could just keep on the move, taking in odd jobs and living off the land, until they turn 18. Maybe they don't really need a "home." Maybe all they need is each other.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">--</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">This marks my last post for the Shelf Discovery Challenge, for which I read six books in six months. The final list:</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2009/12/id-like-fries-with-that.html">My Darling, My Hamburger</a> by Paul Zindel</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2009/01/starring-judy-blume-as-sally-freedman.html">Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself</a> by Judy Blume</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2010/01/night-at-museum.html">From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler</a> by E. L. Konigsburg</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-jacob.html">Jacob Have I Loved</a> by Katherine Paterson </div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://modealapie.blogspot.com/2010/03/with-my-little-eye.html">Harriet the Spy</a> by Louise Fitzhugh</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-75320529939097828592010-03-30T10:00:00.003-04:002010-06-30T11:35:19.795-04:00The Glue Holding Us Together, and Other Cheesiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/summerbefore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/summerbefore.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Here's a double-whammy for ya: This is my 100th post AND I'm writing about the Baby-sitters Club prequel. Life in blog-land can't get much better than that.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Summer Before</i> is Ann M. Martin's (and Scholastic's, and probably David Levithan's) gift to us, the old-school fans. It's written in a reflective style, as if the girls are much older and looking back on that summer before seventh grade, before forming the Baby-sitters Club—which, according to Kristy, was "something we would belong to, in one sense or another, for the rest of our lives."</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">In the spirit of a Super Special, the chapters alternate between Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey's point of views, and each girl has her own sub-plot. Kristy misses her dad and is not so into her mom dating Watson. Mary Anne starts baby-sitting, but of course her super-strict father has a bunch of rules about that. Claudia has her first sort-of boyfriend and feels herself drifting away from Kristy and Mary Anne. And Stacey moves to Stoneybrook, away from NYC and all her bad memories of the last year (including "Her Royal Meanness" Laine).</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">The book is not exactly action-packed, so I don't want to give away too much of the plot. But if you haven't read it yet, you can look forward to a fun pool party scene, flashes of Mary Anne's bitchy side, and even a little bit of pre-stroke Mimi. I also enjoyed a lot of the character continuity; Mary Anne is into sewing outfits for dolls, Claudia tears her room apart putting together the perfect outfit, and sophisticated Stacey luvs pigs. (Plus, Kristy gets to say, "I love being in charge.") Questions left unanswered: Did Mary Anne invent the Pike smorgasbord? If Jenny Prezzioso was a new client in book #4, what's she doing in the prequel? And just how does the Kristy/Mary Anne flashlight code work, anyway?</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Conclusion: Eight- and nine-year-old girls of today would probably be better introduced to the series with the graphic novels or the re-releases. Children of the '80s and early '90s may not feel that all of their hopes and dreams for a BSC prequel have been fulfilled by <i>The Summer Before</i>. I don't think our hopes and dreams for the BSC ever can be. But the book does serve as a nice bookend to the series, with <i>Graduation Day</i> on the other side. You should read it.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Reviewed from my personal copy, purchased at the elementary school book fair!</i></div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-15080458525574419942010-03-24T10:00:00.013-04:002010-06-30T11:35:02.680-04:00With My Little Eye<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/harrietthespy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/harrietthespy2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">I did the whole notebook thing. When I was 9 or 10, inspired by <i>Harriet the Spy</i>, I spent maybe two or three afternoons eavesdropping on my neighbors' conversations and jotting down dialogue. I wasn't hanging out in any dumbwaiters, just sitting in a lounge chair in my backyard, which happened to be within hearing distance of next door. It wasn't that exciting, so I went back to making up stories—and occasionally writing commentary about my fifth grade classmates—instead of "spying."</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">I know I'm not the only one. Mallory got her spy on during the trip to Disney World in Baby-sitters Super Special #1. And you all did, too, right?</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, as an aspiring-writer geek child, I wanted to be like Harriet. Not <i>just</i> like Harriet, because I thought she was kind of loud and bossy. Re-reading the book now, I would add "bratty." But I still like her! I like how particular she is about certain things, like having her cake and milk at the same time every day. (Jealous!) I like how she is so thoughtful, although mostly introspective, and makes an effort to do the things she believes to be worthwhile. I like her super-rad spying outfit, which consists of "an ancient pair of blue jeans ... an old dark-blue sweatshirt with a hood ... an old pair of blue sneakers with holes over each of her little toes ... [and] a pair of black-rimmed spectacles with no glass in them"—not to mention her tool belt, which carries a flashlight, notebook, pens, canteen, and boy scout knife.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Things I took special notice of as an adult:</div><ul style="font-family: inherit;"><li>Harriet is a rich kid. When I was younger, I kind of thought that everyone in the olden days had a nanny and a cook. Now I know better.</li>
<li>Harriet's parents send her to a shrink after the whole notebook incident at school. She plays Monopoly with him, even though she thinks it's the most boring game ever invented.</li>
<li>Harriet's mom talks about someone being "stoned out of his mind" at a party!</li>
<li>"Ole Golly just had indoor things and outdoor things. She never wore anything recognizable as a skirt, a jacket, or a sweater. She just had yards and yards of tweed which enveloped her like a lot of discarded blankets, which ballooned out when she walked, and which she referred to as her Things."</li>
<li>Harriet's best friend Sport cooks and cleans for his dad, and he either wants to be a baseball player or a certified public accountant when he grows up. I love this. </li>
<li>I never knew that Louise Fitzhugh drew the illustrations in addition to writing the book. My favorites are Ole Golly, Harriet spying, and Harriet doing interpretive dance as an onion. </li>
</ul><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Fifth book for the <a href="http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-shelf-discovery-challenge.html">Shelf Discovery Challenge</a>! I just started reading #6. </i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-34423948689431620332010-03-14T16:41:00.001-04:002010-03-14T16:45:33.998-04:00Team Jacob<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/jacob2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/jacob2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I've been on a Katherine Paterson kick for the past few months. I watched the movie version of <i>Bridge to Terabithia</i>, and found out that the story was based on the death of her son's best friend. I read <i>The Great Gilly Hopkins</i> for my children's lit class and la-la-loved it. And most recently, I picked up <i>Jacob Have I Loved</i>.</div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is another one that I was really uninterested in as a child. I know I do this a lot, but I'm going to blame the title. It's part of a quote from the Bible (there's no actual Jacob character in the book), and even though I didn't know that before, it always sounded terribly old-fashioned to me. (If it had been <i>Jacob <b>I Have</b> Loved</i>, that might have been a different story.)</div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, the story isn't set in B.C. times, but it does take place well before I was born—in the 1940s. Not a problem. The protag, Sara Louise (or "Wheeze," as she is unfortunately nicknamed), lives on an island in the Chesapeake Bay and alternately spends her time crabbing with her dorky male sidekick and making herself sick with envy over her beautiful, talented twin sister, Caroline. The book spans several years in Wheeze's life and doesn't center on any one event, but there were two scenes in the book that stood out to me as the most exciting. The first is when Caroline has a brilliant idea for getting people on the island to adopt a bunch of homeless kitties. And second ... second is when Wheeze starts to get a tingly feeling about the 70-year-old captain who has recently returned to the island!</div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So there are some juicy parts, and overall it's a satisfying read. But <i>Jacob Have I Loved</i> is not my new favorite. K Paterson is a masterful writer without a doubt; I just found the tale of Wheeze a bit too sprawling for my tastes. C'est la vie.</div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>This is my fourth book for the <a href="http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-shelf-discovery-challenge.html">Shelf Discovery Challenge</a>. Just two more to go!</i></div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-11599431422041967852010-03-09T16:30:00.001-05:002010-03-09T16:30:00.808-05:00Coffee & Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/cupcakequeen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/cupcakequeen.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/espressologist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/espressologist.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/cupcakecohn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/cupcakecohn.jpg" width="142" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/sweetlifeofstellamadison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/sweetlifeofstellamadison.jpg" width="132" /></a><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/confessionsofatripleshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/confessionsofatripleshot.jpg" width="131" /></a> <a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/devilish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/devilish.jpg" width="134" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just a few books that are appealing to my sweet tooth today. The only one I've read so far is <i>Devilish</i> by Maureen Johnson. I do own <i>Cupcake</i> by Rachel Cohn, but a little compulsion of mine has delayed my reading it. (Long story short, it's the third book about wild child Cyd Charisse. I own the first one, <i>Gingerbread</i>, but I cannot find a copy of the second, <i>Shrimp</i>, with a matching cover. I refuse to own a mixed set. Maybe I should just borrow <i>Shrimp</i> from the library and get it over with?)</span></div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-32657702148150589562010-02-27T17:30:00.000-05:002010-02-27T17:30:31.703-05:00Minor Details<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN0859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/DSCN0859.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lately I've been mailing out so many zines that the lady at the post office has started to recognize me. Mostly trades, so I have gotten a lot of interesting things in return. But the zine I want to tell you about today is one I ordered and paid for with real money—and honestly, I could never in good conscience swap something I made for a work of art like this.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Minutiae </i>#1 and 2 are printed on nice thick paper with colored cardstock covers. They feature gorgeous illustrations and my favorite kind of handwriting, half print/half cursive. #1 is all about the first month Aijung spent in Portland, from July to August 2008. The next issue, made in summer 2009, finds her in Richmond, Virginia. I shared these with my mom the last time she was visiting, and she read them very intently. We talked about how Aijung only stayed in Portland for a little while and pointed out all the awesome drawings, including my favorite of what must be the cutest salt-n-pepper shaker in the world.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">You can get these in <a href="http://sprouthead.etsy.com/">Aijung's etsy shop</a>. Definitely worth it.</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-8445631123775488852010-02-13T20:44:00.002-05:002010-02-13T20:47:14.895-05:00I Like It, I Love It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/girl_nelson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/girl_nelson.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In which I tell you straight out my likes and dislikes. (In case you were wondering.)<br />
<br />
<b>I PRETTY MUCH LOVE</b><br />
YA about girls, in general.<br />
Sassy chicks. (Gingerbread; Alice, I Think)<br />
Chicks with self-esteem issues. (The Princess Diaries; The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things)<br />
Graphic novels about girls in realistic settings. (Plain Janes, Ghost World)<br />
Music stuff. (I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone; Audrey, Wait!; Beige)<br />
Dorky/nerdy/smart kids. (Empress of the World, Paper Towns; Millicent Min, Girl Genius)<br />
Boarding school. (Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks; Prep)<br />
"Multicultural" protags trying to figure out their identity. (Born Confused; Skunk Girl; The Fold)<br />
Girls who are out of control. (Girl; Namedropper)<br />
Funny chick lit. (Diary of a Chav; My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters)<br />
Light-hearted mysteries. (Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls)<br />
<br />
<b>I SOMETIMES LIKE</b><br />
Boy protagonists. (Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; Abundance of Katherines)<br />
Dark-ish and/or depressing YA. (As Simple as Snow)<br />
Vapid series books. (A-List; Pretty Little Liars)<br />
Vampires -- serious and in love. (Twilight; The Silver Kiss) <br />
Vampires -- silly. (Vamped)<br />
Zombies. (Forest of Hands and Teeth)<br />
Historical fiction. (What I Saw and How I Lied; Fever 1793)<br />
Magical realism. (Elsewhere; Almost anything by Francesca Lia Block)<br />
Science fiction featuring GIRLS. (Uglies)<br />
Dystopias. (Little Brother)<br />
<br />
<b>I GENERALLY DISLIKE</b> <b>/ DON'T READ</b><br />
Characters with ridiculously unpronounceable names.<br />
Fairies, angels, and most "paranormal."<br />
500-page beasts.<br />
Superhero graphic novels and/or comics.</div>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-77038396872502681352010-02-07T13:31:00.000-05:002010-02-13T20:45:15.931-05:00Pssst<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm not making this known anywhere else yet, but for you—my five (?) loyal readers—I will say: Guess what? I kinda started what I tend to think of as </span><a href="http://kindergartensophisticate.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">an "outfits pictures" style blog</a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. Go see, and let me know what you think.</span>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-79260515632925902742010-02-03T10:00:00.000-05:002010-02-03T10:00:07.956-05:00Pinnochio Complex<a href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/mybignose.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 228px; height: 319px;" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/mybignose.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">It’s the summer before senior year, and Jory has some goals: Find a boyfriend. Figure out what she’s passionate about. And save up for a nose job.Well, she figures the nose job will have to come before the boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean she can’t crush on a few guys (including picture-perfect Tyler Briggs) while she’s saving up cash as a delivery girl and dabbling in foreign cinema.<br /><br />Not that this is a book with OMG-crazy plot twists, but I feel as if saying more about what happens in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >My Big Nose and Other Disasters</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> would kind of ruin it. It’s a couple of months in a girl’s life, stuff happens, and you can bet she has new-found self-esteem and a little romance by the end of things.<br /><br />As a girl whose nose is far from button-like, I was interested to see how the author (Sydney Salter) would approach the whole aspiring-to-rhinoplasty thing. Does Jory really have a remarkably big nose, or is it just insecurity? The only indication we have that it might actually be a legitimate honker is that Jory’s mom helps her apply some makeup to minimize its size. (I think I’d heard of this before, but I just had to Google “nose minimizing makeup”—here is </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/341963/minimizing_the_appearance_of_a_wide.html?cat=69">an example</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> of what I found.)<br /><br />Though the idea of a teen scheming to get plastic surgery isn’t exactly hilarious, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >My Big Nose</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is full-on funny. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jory’s story, even if I did kind of hate her name at the beginning. The best thing about it is the way the boy encounters are treated—very realistically, I thought. Lots of YA books with “boy crazy” characters are pretty G-rated, which is okay for a certain audience, but sometimes you want a little more. This one strikes a nice balance between those and the skank-fest Gossip Girls. My single, minor, beef with the book was all the "I'm going to die a virgin" talk from Jory. Girl, you're 17. Lots of people don't have sex until after high school ... just give it a year or two.</span><br /><p></p>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-35953869600465460802010-01-27T10:00:00.002-05:002010-01-27T10:00:01.711-05:00Night at the Museum<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/mixedupfiles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 319px;" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/mixedupfiles.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> is forever in my mind linked with </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Both have a mysterious Mrs. in the title, and both were first introduced to me at the elementary school library. I can't remember if mean old Mrs. C (yes, there is such a thing as a "mean" librarian) read them out loud to us or just showed the movies—the point is that I am fairly certain I had never read </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >The Mixed-Up Files</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on my own, until now.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's about 11-year-old Claudia Kincaid, who decides to run away from home in Connecticut and bring one of her younger brothers with her. She picks 9-year-old Jamie, mostly for his stinginess—the kid hardly spends a dime of his allowance and has plenty saved up. The two head to Manhattan by train and hole up at the Met, where they hide in bathroom stalls at closing time each night and blend in with school groups during the day.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Of course, there is a mystery to solve. The museum has acquired a sculpture of an angel that may or may not be the work of Michelangelo. Can Claudia and Jaime figure it out before it's time to go home? Maybe, with the help of one Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">From the suburban ennui that drives Claudia's adventure to her need to be "different" as a result of it, Claudia is as much adolescent as she is wandering 20-something.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Not only does she want to be different from how she used to be, but she wants to be <span style="font-style: italic;">different</span> from everyone else. Claudia thinks:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;">When she was grown, she could stay the way she was and move to some place like India where no one dressed as she did, or she could dress like someone else ... and still live in an ordinary place like Greenwich.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;">Of course, New York City is the kind of place where you can do both.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >This is my third post for the <a href="http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-shelf-discovery-challenge.html">Shelf Discovery Challenge</a>. Halfway there!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><p></p>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054824941912111555.post-84835983573459215722010-01-21T21:23:00.003-05:002010-01-21T22:33:19.608-05:00Summer of Suck & My Sketchy Valentine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/sketchyvalentine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 179px;" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/hellokittienyc/sketchyvalentine.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">After going through all 23 episodes of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">The City</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, I needed a new half-hour show to watch while eating my Cream of Wheat in the morning and/or winding down before bed. Enter </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">My Life as Liz</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. It's a brand-new show, and lucky for me, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/mylifeasliz/video.jhtml">full episodes</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> are online at MTV.com.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">So it's about this girl in Texas who, if she had been in high school while I was in high school, would have fancied herself "alternative." I'm not sure what they call it these days. ("Wannabe hipster" comes to mind?) She thinks everyone in her town is the same, but she's different somehow because she has red hair and bangs instead of blond hair and big boobs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seriously, I like the idea of a nonconformist doing her thing, but not if she's doing it just for the sake of not conforming. Take Clarissa Darling. Did she ever say "Everyone at my school sucks and I'm awesome because I dress funky and have a skater best friend who comes into my room through the window?" No, she didn't, because she didn't have to put anyone down to prove how cool she was and she didn't dress the way she did just to be cool.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the first episode, Liz is bummed because she has to profile her blond cheerleader stereotype classmate, Taylor Terry, for a video production project instead of dressing up her three dorky male sidekicks as Jesus, Buddha, and Vishnu. She's thoroughly unimpressed by Taylor until they have a mini heart-to-heart and Taylor reveals that she only acts the way she does because that's what people expect of her. At this point in the show, I actually had hope that Liz might be able to see someone like Taylor as an individual rather than taking her at face value. Liz takes Taylor thrifting, and it seems as if they might even become friends. But not so fast! On the first day of school (which confuses me, because why was she working on a video project before school started?), Liz tries to wave to Taylor, and Taylor totally ignores her, thus reinforcing all of Liz's original beliefs about the general suckitude that surrounds her.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's suddenly Valentine's Day for episode two, and Liz is disgusted by the student council carnation sale. Until she's presented with, like, 10 carnations herself. They're from a "secret admirer" who instructs her to go to the school dance to find out his identity. After hanging the carnations from her ceiling fan with little tiny nooses, she decides to go to Cupid's Bash. Surprise, surprise, it's a total bust. Liz leaves feeling like a total loser but stops for a milkshake and fries on her way home. Whilst hanging out on the hood of her car consuming the aforementioned milkshake and fries, she's approached by Bryson, this supposedly dreamy dude from her English class. They hang out under the stars for a bit, but there's no making out or anything. The next day in school, Taylor reveals that it was queen bitch Cori (one of Liz's former friends) who sent the carnations as a prank. Liz is about to go ape on Cori when she runs into Bryson. And that's pretty much how it ends.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">My </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Life as Liz</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> is shot to look like a reality show, but I'm pretty sure it's totally scripted. Apparently the Valentine's Day episode was actually filmed in May. Whatever, though—obviously I'm tuning in next week.</span>andrea jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12241080850623158688noreply@blogger.com1