A Blog of Firsts

allisonweiss: THE ALLISON WEISS SUMMER FUN KIT IS NOW...

Tue, 10 May 2011 16:17:24 -0400

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No. 27: The Outsiders

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:20:08 -0400

(Yes, I’m lazy. So it goes)

When I started reading The Outsiders, I flipped to the back section where all the extra interviews and discussion questions were and I was really sidetracked and distracted and I read the first question to author S. E. Hinton about the book. It was the basic how-did-you-get-the-idea-and-when-did-you-start-writing question, and while she really didn’t answer the how, she did start writing when she was 15. It was the same year she got a D in Creative Writing. Which I can and can’t understand about the book.

The first half of the book is good, then it gets really boring, and then a little better, and then ends. I didn’t think that all the main characters were described that well, maybe for the reason that they all looked the same, except for their build, but the details about the environment and the world it takes place were good. It did take me a little while to figure out where it took place. But I liked that feature about the writing that I had to go further and further into the book to see the whole picture. The world was built up, rather than getting throw into it.

And then they sat around and talked about getting ready for a fight. And the fight happened. And it all took place in two pages……

This is where she gets her D. She spent so long talking about ten characters that were only around for ten pages and then never mentioned them again. I would say that Neil Gaiman does the same thing, but it’s way more entertaining. Granted, she is 15 writing this, but they could have used a little more screen time, and everything that the book has been leading up to is cut entirely too short.

The end was sad and very good, well written. That’s really it.

It wasn’t terrible, and it wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever read, but… yeah. It just is.

5.0 of 10

No. 26: Inception

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:42:47 -0400

When I saw the first TV spot for this I thought it was going to suck, bug time. Then the reviews came in. Dang.

Inception was quite the thinker for a summer blockbuster, but it was good. I’ve always liked movies that you have to go in with a very open mind and be very prepared for it to change everything about reality. It’s on that high of a level that only a select group can really understand what is going on. I like to tell myself that I’m in that select group, but that’s probably not true.

It seemed really long to me. There was a lot of talking at the beginning then some action, then a lot more talking during all the action, and then the last twenty minutes had tons of talking. Just be prepared to listen to a lot of stuff, most of it unimportant.

The action was good, a little messy and useless at times, but still cool to watch. The special effects at the beginning were the best, and I think by the end everyone’s mind was blown enough they didn’t have to do much else.

Great cliffhanger, ended just as I hoped it would. But best things ever: Joseph Gordon-Levitt kicked ass. I’m really happy to see him in a lot more things now. Leo was good again, and Ellen Page was alright. Didn’t see as much of her as I wanted. But I’m pretty happy with it.

7.9 of 10

No. 25: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:11:45 -0400

I’d seen a few Buffy episodes here and there when the series was still new and over the passed year with various people, but no one would watch the first season with me. :( Everyone said that it’s just too painful to see the clothes, listen to the jokes, watch the action scenes, or see the special effects. But, the wonderful Anna Katherine let me barrow her copy of season one and they were so wrong about it.

Buffy kicks so much ass, you’ll probably go blind. It’s quick, it’s funny, the plot for most of the episodes are good (The Pack sucked. It was probably the worst episode ever). I was very happy about the entire show. Yes, the camera is pretty gross, the sound didn’t quite sync up in the first episode, the clothes are terrible, some of the explanations are ridiculous and don’t make all that much sense, but who cares. Buffy takes classic monsters and gives them a late 20th century feel and modernizes them, as well as brings in tons of other ridiculous monsters and develops a new universe for monster mayhem.

Like any good fantasy/sci-fi, there are always tons of prophesies that happen within days of each other and they don’t make any sense and they are all proven wrong, but whatever. It’s still a lot of fun to watch.

My biggest problem however is how many dead bodies is Cordelia going to find? She ends up finding about two or three and episode! You’d think she would have more mental problems…

7.9 of 10

No. 25: Scott Pilgrim

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:28:55 -0400

I got the final installment of Scott Pilgrim yesterday. I’d known about the for a very long time and read the first one, but then my interest waned. When I found out that there was going to be a movie I started getting back into it and thought to give it another chance.

And I’m very pleased that I decided to start again and read it. Everything about it is funny and clever and takes just about all of my interest and blends them together. I did feel like the music aspect and the bands were neglected after the third volume, but humor made up for it and the video game references kept getting better.

The last book was very good and I felt like it made a good ending, but it got too gummed up trying to explain everything very quickly. Some of the details I think should have been moved to volume five just because it all happened really fast, but it was still a good and easy read.

I can’t choose one as my favorite because each one has its own pros and cons (I might have to go with the fourth), but I’m very happy that I decided to pick it back up. Very stoked for the movie. It’ll be epic.

8.7 of 10

No. 24: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:09:34 -0400

We’ve known about this place forever. And it opened just about a month ago (maybe?). The wonderful Anna Katherine and I went. And it was awesome…

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was incredibly fun. It looked wonderful. Felt like it belonged in the movie. Not everything I imagined from the books, but it was still amazing. I expected it to be bigger, but it was really crowded and it was hard to move around so that’s more than likely why it was hard. Some of the lines were tremendous and the wait for the wand shop “show” was two hours. Just to get into the store was half an hour. We did get on the Dragon Challenge ride fairly quickly and only waited ten minutes maybe. And yes, I am afraid of roller coasters. But I got through it and it was awesome. The Forbidden Journey line was a little over an hour, but probably the greatest ride ever. There’s a walk through the castle, which went way too quickly mostly because they were trying to get people on and off the ride, but still fun to walk around. But the ride was so amazing. It was long there was all of this crazy noise and it was just awesome. More than worth the wait. There’s a little store at the end that was way too small and crowded. You could easily steal things if you wanted.

The Hippogriff ride was okay. The line was kind of long, but still fun to go on. I got to climb up to Hagrid’s house so that was fun.

The Three Broomsticks was good. The meals were probably overpriced, but it was good considering I hadn’t really eaten much. The Butterbeer was pretty good, lots of foam. And the Hog’s Head Mead was okay. It got hot really fast and didn’t taste so good then, but it was cheaper than domestic, so still overpriced, but better.

We did make it into Honeydukes which was fun to see all the candy and the toys in Zonko’s. I bought a Chocolate Frog, which later melted, but really I just wanted the card (Godric Gryffindor). And a Sugar Quill that ended up just being an orange lollipop. The wonderful Anna Katherine got a frog and some kind of chocolate flies maybe? She can correct me later.

All the workers were dressed to adhere to the wizard feel, and most did speak with accents. Everyone was nice and acted like they were having a good time. Just crowded right now. And hot. But we had a great time overall.

I’m already looking forward to the next time. October maybe?

9.0 of 10

No. 23: James and The Giant Peach

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:04:00 -0400

In all my years I had not read this book. I’d seen it everywhere, I knew there was a movie of it, and that it’s “The #1 Children’s Story” according to the cover of my copy. But I finally got around to reading it and I was very pleased.

James and the Giant Peach was short, simple, easy, but very enjoyable. Like any Roald Dahl story, it starts with some type of tragedy, but it works out. The same ridiculousness as in all of his books, but done very well and it’s interesting enough to keep you entertained. The singing and the poems were a drag on the story but they were never more than a page, thankfully.

There’s not so much to talk about. It’s good. Just simple and fun. Some of the characters weren’t that well explored, but that’s me asking too much from a kids book. But I heard so much about the Centipede and nothing from the Ladybug. Again, asking too much.

7.6 of 10

No. 22: Drive from SC to FL

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:38:00 -0400

This weekend, the wonderful Anna Katherine invited me to see a few plays, travel around, and spend some time together. We’d planned this for a little bit but on Friday I was able to drive down.

I’m familiar with I-95, but I don’t normally go south. I’ve tackled the Northern US by road, but the Southern route is still kinda new. I’ve been in Florida but I’ve only ever gotten there by air.

The trek through South Carolina and Georgia was pretty good. Nice weather, little traffic. But the Florida state line was cloudy and there were lots of cars and people were driving really fast and people were making poor decisions. And it was hot.

Jacksonville was lame. As soon as I got into the city limits, rain. Lots of rain. The wonderful Anna Katherine said it rains everyday in Florida, but Jacksonville was sucky. As soon as I passed the limit sign, sunshine. I have decided, Jacksonville: sucks.

There was lots more traffic on I-4 and it had lots of bad drivers and it was still hot and there were accidents. Ugh…

Saturday I was driving around there were more bad drivers. I got cut off about four times while I was on three miles of I-4. I got off and deduced that you have to be a bad driver to get around Florida.

I’m going to be here a few more days, but I won’t be driving so much. TWAK can handle it.

1.0 of 10

No. 21: Danielle Ate the Sandwich - "Two Bedroom Apartment"

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:48:18 -0400

I found Danielle Ate the Sandwich about two years after I started playing ukulele. All of her music has been a constant inspiration and she’s had a huge influence for how I play and write now.

“Two Bedroom Apartment” shows how much her music has evolved over the passed albums. It’s so professional now and it’s something to be admired. I love hearing bass with her music. It works so well and it’s just the amount of sound that it doesn’t take away from her simplistic origins while still letting her lyrics take front seat and really shine. “Canada” and “Fool” are two incredibly well written songs and I’ve had them on repeat, but I’ve loved hearing the over lapping vocals on “American Dream.”

I really don’t know how to speak badly of this album. I do miss just Danielle and a ukulele, but she just keeps getting better. She can only go up and can’t wait to hear more from her.

9.8 of 10

No. 20: The House on Mango Street

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:11:45 -0400

Adolescent Lit. Again. Another book I wouldn’t have read.

The House on Mango Street, while I think was well written and had interesting characters, lacked some type of story or situation to keep me hooked. I understand that the book isn’t so concerned about a story as it is telling about the people who live in a rundown community, but I hoped to see something that would somehow link all the people together a little better in something.

I’m not saying that the book was bad. It was a decent read, the writing was very descriptive and painted a great picture of where these people lived, which is what I believe was the aim of the book, but I kept hoping that there would be more that would bring these people together. Or maybe there isn’t a way to. Maybe there are doomed to stay separated.

The more I think about it, the deeper the book is. But I always wanted more from the characters. I wanted them to be united and to find some type of commonality, but I understand that that may never happen.

6.0 of 10

No. 19: Go Ask Alice

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:59:51 -0400

I’ve always liked nonfiction and autobiographies and personal accounts and diaries have always been my favorites. And when I saw that Go Ask Alice was written by an unknown author, I wanted to read it even more.

When I started reading, I started thinking about Ellen Hopkins’ Crank. I felt like I was reading it again, but GAA, of course, felt real and like something I could hold on to. The language is something that I can really see a 15 year-old girl writing. But it was still able to surprise me and keep me engrossed in the story.

I find it really hard to talk about the book because it does have a lot of shock factor that can’t really be analyzed. It’s just unexpected and there’s so much in the story that we don’t know. You would hope that things would start to look up, but a month of her diary is missing and we don’t know how she ended up where she is. It’s almost like we’re the ones on drugs, blacking out, and waking up in an unknown place. There’s so much that we don’t know and we keep reading hoping to find out.

We’re left hoping for a better ending or even some type of closure, but we hit another wall and left wondering what happened. And why?

8.7 of 10

No 18: Order of Tales

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:50:12 -0400

A little over a year ago at Heroes Con, I met Evan Dahm. I didn’t expect to really meet any artist, I was more into finding weird comics and wandering around, but on one of the ads tables, I saw a sheet of paper with a green guy holding a lantern. I thought it was interesting so I just held on to it. But about thirty minutes before I left, I walked passed a table with the same sheets and similar work. The guy, Dahm, handed me a sticker and said if I found the time, look at his website. But of course, I got suckered into looking at his comics and I was pleasantly surprised and I bought his book. A few days ago, the last pages of Order of Tales were put on his website, and I was very pleased.

I started reading Order of Tales the same day I bought his book and quickly realized that it was well drawn, well written, and loaded with tons and tons of great fantasy. It follows the basic fantasy formula of good vs. evil, small town type hero, some type of love interest, but he has draw it so well that it feels new again. I’m so used to reading Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time that it’s easy to get bored with them, but seeing it draw in a simple black and white format and seeing so many unique looking characters brings back the same feelings of excitement and glee I had when I first read LotR and WoT.

Dahm has built a new fantasy world that we get to explore more in his “Overside” stories, and continues to bring characters from his previous work, Rice Boy, back to develop them even more. He’s developing a history for a world and making it better and better.

Order of Tales ended well and looked great. I still have so many questions about some of the people and what happened and some of the places and just everything that I want to keep reading his work and I can’t wait to see more of his world and it’s development.

9.4 of 10

No. 17: Ella Enchanted

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:01:00 -0400

Adolescent Lit. is making me read a lot of books that I didn’t think I would read. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the film version, but I wasn’t really into.

But what I can remember from the movie, the novel was very different. The basic plot was pretty much the same, but everything else is vastly different.

While the movie really explores the world and the characters that live there, the book goes more into language. Like in most fairy tales, there are of course different species of creatures and animals and they all have their unique languages, but when parts of the dialogue is written in that language without a translation, I can’t understand what’s going on. A character does eventually translate, but it’s a waste. The back of my copy came with a translation guide, but you have to learn the language. It’s a big waste. I can understand why it would be interesting to learn the language and have your own “secret” code, but it really hinders the reading experience if you have to be part of a select group to read certain parts.

There are a few other minor parts about the book that made it difficult to read. I’ve always thought that fairy tales needed to be in third-person, and Ella’s first-person account doesn’t feel like a fairy-tale. It needs to be told in a way that it feels like your grandmother is telling it to you.

I believe I’ll be sticking with Brother’s Grimm.

3.9 of 10

So I've been lazy

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:06:59 -0400

Yeah, I didn’t get anything done this week. Car trouble made me grumpy, busy getting the brother off to Korea, and it’s Fourth of July weekend. BUT, I will be putting up six this week and try to get back on track the week after. And we’ll be all caught up. I might do two weeks of six posts to make up for this week. Yeah… Something will be up tomorrow. Go time.

No. 16: American Elf

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:37:51 -0400

I can’t remember how I found American Elf, but when I first started reading it I really didn’t like it. All the comics are really short. They aren’t always funny. They aren’t always that entertaining either. So I pushed it aside and didn’t read it for a few months.

But for some reason, I kept it bookmarked and I clicked on it ever once and a while and I saw that there were tons and tons of these little comics. I didn’t realize that this guy has been drawing this comics everyday for like seven years. So he draws a little comics about his day, everyday? Whoa.

I started looking through several months and got through about two years when it really clicked. You can’t just read one of these comics and understand or get what he’s doing. He’s writing his autobiography everyday in pictures. They may seem like the most unrelated events and bore you, but as a whole, you’re looking into his life. He’s letting us look into his personal life in a way that’s totally unique and different from any book.

We get to see him happy, sad, pissed off, tired, hungry. He keeps it all interesting and unique. And while reading about the most uneventful events in this guy’s life might seem, well uneventful, they are important to him. And he’s letting us be a part of it all and read about it.

8.1 of 10

No. 15: World Cup Soccer

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:04:32 -0400

I’m not the biggest sports fan, but I do watch the bigger events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics and there are a few teams that I will just pick up and watch when they play. But soccer?

Yeah, I watched the entire World Cup match between the US and Ghana. I’ve never been interested in soccer ever. I didn’t play in a league when I was younger (I played tennis), there wasn’t a team at my school, and there aren’t any big teams anywhere near where I lived (There may have been some smaller leagues but I wouldn’t know).

Now of course, it’s the US trying to be the best in the world at something, so my American spirit comes through and I obviously have to chant “USA! USA!” if something good happens and hope that they prove to everyone that we’re the best at everything. And everything right now is soccer.

I’d seen maybe ten minutes of soccer (ever) before I started watching this match, so I went to trusty Wikipedia to brush up on the rules, which still don’t make since, and tried to watch. Well of course the US would be down in the first five minutes of the game I decide to watch. Great.

The rules are ridiculous. I’m still confused as to how they just let some guy just lie on the ground, stop play, let the clock keep running, carry him over to the sidelines on a stretcher, then he stands up under his own power, walks off, and then nothing happens. Totally BS. I would have called out any team that did that. Where’s the yellow card, or that red card, or give them a corner kick, or a penalty shot, or give them something.

Soccer’s weird.

Of course I’m disappointed that the US lost, but whatever. It’s soccer, who cares.

6.0 of 10

No. 14: What My Mother doesn't Know

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:42:00 -0400

Since I’m taking Adolescent Lit. in the fall, I’m having to read a lot of books that I would never read. I immediately knew that this was one of them. The cover of mine says “Winning. - Entertainment Weekly.” The less trashy celebrity gossip magazine said that it was winning? Wonderful…

What My Mother doesn’t Know is garbage. It is probably the worst book I have read this year. It ranks in the same area as The Awakening, it’s that bad. Now in defense of the books, I’m not at all the intended audience, but there could have been some depth. This 15 year old girl just talks about how she’s boy crazy and that’s it. It’s a string of unrelated events that try to come together in a story about halfway through. But no. It doesn’t work. No story. Major fail.

It does try to do the “look like it’s deep poetry” route. There are only a few words on each page and it’s broken into stanzas, but it’s not unique or interesting to read. It fails tremendously. I am incredibly thankful that Ellen Hopkins got it right and actually wrote a compelling and good story doing the same thing.

What makes it all the more ridiculous, it was banned… WHAT?!? There is nothing remotely inappropriate for readers. It’s intended for readers in about 5th-7th grade maybe? Those kids know WAY more than what they talk about in this book. It’s almost comical how not inappropriate this book is.

I just can’t fathom how bad this book is.

1.0 of 10

(All the links for books are from Barnes & Noble since they are providing me with lovely free internet. Thanks guys!)

No. 13: It's a Bird...

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:06:16 -0400

I’m not that big of a Superman fan, but I do have a few of his comics. They’re okay. I really didn’t think much about him until I heard David Carradine’s monologue in Kill Bill v.2. I perked my interest in the idea of Superman, but I’m more into the lesser known superheroes.

It’s a Bird however made me think of Superman very differently. The new writer for Superman has all of these problems with writing the character and himself, but I could really see the problems that Superman has. He has this identity that he can’t set free, he feels as if he’s the one under all the pressure, he has to be there all the time. He’s the one who’s there to save the day. Everyone’s day. Everyday.

He’s this ever exposed character that we all recognize and that we all hope for. The guy that’s going to win and solve all the problems. But who’s there for Superman? We all look up to Superman, but who can he look up to? Everyone’s heroes had someone that they can draw influence or talents or ideas from, but what about Superman? Why does he come to the rescue everyday?

The story goes a lot deeper into family affairs, disease, and pressures of life, but I kept thinking of how Superman is exposed to the world as this great and powerful superhero, but how does he want to be seen? What can we give back to Superman?

7.0 of 10

No. 12: Super Mario RPG

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:48:56 -0400

I remember when I borrowed this game from a friend after it had just come out. Geez it was hard. My brother and I spent a good two weeks trying to beat it. We never did finish it. Made it all the way to the end, but couldn’t quite beat the last boss or two. A few weeks ago, I saw that it had been added to the Wii Virtual Console, so I finally fessed up and bought it.

Super Mario RPG is freaking amazing. It was great when I first played it, but now with years of experience in playing video games, the experience was even better. The whole game scheme works well, the characters are fun, the game play is challenging but makes you want to play better. There is very little to say about it that’s bad.

There’s a lot to the game as well. The main story is fairly short. You could probably beat it in 15 hours if you took it easy. But there’s so much that you can do! Tons of sidequests and extras that make it even more fun. Sure the main story line is what you’re going to want to beat, but you HAVE to do the extras. You don’t want to just beat the game, you want to annihilate it. So you could easily spend 40-50 hours just getting all the extra stuff, seeing all of the events, and getting the best items in the game.

My only problem, is that the story is a little lame. It’s very linear and there isn’t too much back tracking that you have to do. Building up your characters does take a little time, but just about halfway through the game, you’ll find enough places to grind and have everyone going pretty well.

I beat the game today. I spent about thirty or forty minutes trying to beat the last boss. It was so worth it.

8.4 of 10

No. 11: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - "Dust of Retreat"

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:07:06 -0400

Somewhere or another I heard a cover of “Vampires in Blue Dresses” and I liked it so I bought the album, listened to a few tracks and hated it. I found it on my computer and decided I would listen all the way through and see if it was any better the second time. It wasn’t

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s “Dust of Retreat” is kind of annoying. The entire album fights with each other in a gross mix of harder rock/punk/indie and a guy who doesn’t have a voice that makes me want to listen to it. He doesn’t make it strong enough to make it rock, but it isn’t low and soft enough to make it indie-esk or soulful.

Parts of songs are good. But for most of them, they switch between soft and sweet to punk rock and almost a metal sound. There are only two tracks that do this well but again the vocals ruined it for me.

The lyrics are kind of good. They kept me entertained for the most part. But not enough to make me want to listen to the over again. It just wasn’t that present to listen to. I guess I was looking for more a concept or theme but I never found it. I’ll just have to keep my eye out for better covers.

2.1 of 10