the host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer is possibly one of the best books I have ever read. Behind Harry Potter of course. But if you read her Twilight books and told yourself you weren't going to ever read another Stephenie Meyer book, think again and please read The Host.

The Host is a different kind of book and if I try to describe it, it's gonna sound like a stupid, cheesy, sci-fi book. But I'm going to try to describe it anyway.

The Host is about souls from different planets that have been coming to Earth and being inserted into human bodies and taking them over. Humans are now an endangered species and the Seekers are the ones who are in charge of tracking down humans and turning them in to be used as host bodies. Usually, after the soul is inserted into the host body, the host mind and thoughts are turned over to the soul. This story is all about a soul, Wanderer, and a host body, Melanie, that doesn't want to give up her body. When Wanderer is inserted into Melanie's body, Melanie is still there. What I mean by that, is that Melanie can communicate with Wanderer and tell her about her deepest thoughts. At first, Mel obviously hates Wanderer because her kind is taking over the planet and there is nothing she can do about it. This problem doesn't occur very often so it's very rare to have a case like Wanderer's where the host won't give up the body. Because of this problem with Wanderer's host body, she plans to go see her Healer, which is like a doctor. She plans to get a new host body and Mel's body will then be destroyed.

On the way to Phoenix, to see the Healer, Melanie opens up to Wanderer and shares old memories about her childhood and her friends. That is when we see Mel's thoughts and see her flashback to before she was a host body. The story she shares is about when she and her brother, Jamie, were on the run from the "aliens" and hiding out in caves. When Mel is on a raid for food for her and Jamie, she goes into a strange house in the middle of the night, hoping that no one is home. Luckily no one is there...yet. While Melanie is raiding the cupboards for food, she feels hands grasp around her neck, cutting off her air supply. When she turns around, she sees the man who grabbed her and the next thing she knows, he's kissing her. When he finally stops, he tries to explain to her that he's only kissing her because he's happy that she's not an alien. Melanie's flashback keeps going on for a while and she reveals even more to Wanderer, but you'll just have to read the book to find out what happens.

The beginning is a little bit confusing and a little bit boring, but if you can make it past that, it's one of the best books you'll ever read.

Pelekania

only in America

 Only in China will you find this many people at one swimming pool.

 Only in Hawaii can you dine in the crystal clear water.

 Only in India will you see people feeding the street rats.

 Only in Mexico can you sun tan like this.

 Only in Texas will you see someone washing their cows at the car wash.

 Only in Thailand can you bathe with a python and it's completely normal.

And last but not least, only in America...

Only in America will you find escalators leading up to a fitness center.

latest obsession

So my latest tasteless obsession has been listening to Broadway musicals. I got the Chorus Line and Avenue Q soundtracks for Christmas and ever since then, I can't stop listening to them. My "for now" favorite though is Spring Awakening. The music is so amazing! It stars everyones favorite Glee star, Lea Michele. And we all know that her voice is amazing, so therefore the music is amazing. There was also another name that I recognized when going through the CD, which was Jennifer Damiano who was just one of the girls in Spring Awakening, but who was also Natalie in Next to Normal.

Here is the song list:

1. Mama Who Bore Me
2. Mama Who Bore Me (reprise)
3. All That's Known
4. The B**** of Living
5. My Junk
6. Touch Me
7. The Word of Your Body
8. The Dark I Know Well
9. And Then There Were None
10. The Mirror-Blue Night
11. I Believe
12. Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind
13. The Guilty Ones
14. Left Behind
15. Totally F*****
16. The Word of Your Body
17. Whispering
18. Those You've Known
19. The Song of Purple Summer

My top favorites are numbers: 3, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15 and 18. Well, I love all of them, but those are my most listened to top favorites. As I'm sure you can guess by some of the song titles, this musical does have explicit content, so I don't recommend blasting the speakers while listening to Spring Awakening while the parents are home.


I also just recently saw Hairspray for the first time. I love that movie so much now! It's also one of my most listened to albums on my iPod. It's such an adorable movie and I hate referring to movies as adorable, but I can't think of anything else to call it besides amazing and adorable. Hairspray has one of the most famous casts ever! If you don't know just about everyone in that movie, you must have been living under a rock for the past ten years. Hairspray stars:


Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad
John Travolta as Edna Turnblad
Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad
Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton
Zac Efron as Link Larkin
Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle
Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle
James Marsden as Corny Collins
Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle

...and there's so many more stars that most people should recognize.

Here's the song list:

1. Good Morning Baltimore
2. The Nicest Kids In Town
3. It Takes Two
4. (The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs
5. I Can Hear the Bells
6. Ladies Choice
7. New Girl In Town
8. Welcome to the 60's
9. Run and Tell That!
10. Big, Blonde and Beautiful
11. Big, Blonde and Beautiful (reprise)
12. (You're) Timeless to Me
13. I Know Where I've Been
14. Without Love
15. (It's) Hairspray
16. You Can't Stop the Beat
17. Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)
18. Cooties
19. Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now

My favorites from this one are numbers: 3, 5, 6, 8, 13, 14 and 16. I think I am safe to say that number 16, You Can't Stop the Beat is usually everyone's favorite. It's fast and fun to sing and dance to in your room when no one else is home :) Another thing I love about this movie is John Travolta as Edna. It's hilarious to see him as a woman! My brother honestly didn't even know until we told him.

Speaking of Broadway and musicals and such, I am going to see Next to Normal in March! I can't wait and I will definately be writing about it when I get back. And also, new musical: it's called Edges: A Song Cycle. I don't remember if I've talked about it before but if I haven't, then I am now. I can't find the soundtrack anywhere but that might be because I don't think it's actually made it on Broadway...yet. I will be the first in line to see it though when it does. If you want to hear some of the music, you can always look it up on YouTube.

Pelekania

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I finally saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last month after it had been out for like a month already! And I have to say, it was absolutely amazing! My favorite part was at the very beginning, when there were the seven Harrys. Fred and George were like wow, we're identical! But my favorite Harry out of all of them was Fleur Delacour. She turned into Harry and my favorite line in the whole movie was when she said to Bill, "Don't look at me, I'm hideous." When you think about it, Daniel Radcliffe had to shoot that scene seven different times, each time as a different person. How awkward would it be for him having to put on girls clothing?

Progressing on in the movie, they take off on their brooms and motorcycles on their way to the safe house. This is where three of the saddest parts of the movie happen. First, Hedwig dies trying to protect Harry. Then, because the Death Eaters see Hedwig by that Harry, they know it's the real Harry Potter. Second, Mad Eye Moody dies. He just never comes back. And third, George loses an ear. Which isn't the worst that could have happened seeing as though his twin dies at the end of the book. But still, it's sad (even though George makes jokes about losing his ear).

Then they (Harry, Ron and Hermione) are off looking for the Horcruxes so they can destroy them. They are also looking for Godric Gryffindor's sword, which they need in order to destroy the Horcruxes and defeat Voldemort. Up to the beginning of the seventh movie/book, they have found and destroyed what I believe to be two, which were the ring and the diary (don't take my word on that though). And during part one of the Deathly Hallows, they find and destroy the locket using the sword of Gryffindor which they also found, but isn't a Horcrux.

There is also a part where they go to visit Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father to see what information they can get from him. I don't remember this part very clearly and I don't want to remember this part wrong so I will just say that Xenophilius gives away their location and the Death Eaters swarm the house.

I don't remember all of the movie but I'll try my best to remember. One part that I remember very clearly was when like Neville and Ginny were on the train to Hogwarts and the Death Eaters came on the train and Neville told them off. Neville has changed so much since the first movie. Oh my goodness that boy looks so cute now (not that he wasn't in the Sorcerers Stone though).

Another part I remember was when Harry, Ron and Hermione were discovered by the bad people (I forget what they called them in the movie!) and they were taken to the Malfoy home and Bellatrix was torturing Hermione for information. It's one of those things you remember because it was so terrible and her scream was awful. I liked this part though because when the people ask Draco if this is the real Harry Potter (they can't tell because his face is all distorted) but all Draco says is that he can't be sure. But we really know that he knows that it's Harry, but Draco doesn't want to give him away. This is also the part where Dobby dies. They were so close to saving him and they were so close to all getting away safely but at the very last minute, as they are disapparating, Bellatrix throws a knife that gets Dobby in the stomach. And when they are all safe and sound, Dobby says his final words.

The end of part one was very easy to remember. The end was Voldemort standing over the tomb of Dumbledore, stealing the Elder Wand out of his dead hand.

Well if you've seen the movie and I left something out (which I know I did), help me refresh my memory and leave a comment. And if you haven't seen the movie and you read all of this, sorry I spoiled it for you. Here's a parting gift from me. Look at this picture! It's so adorable! You're welcome.

Pelekania

facebook conversation

Amanda: luisa, i am hungary
Luisa: maybe you should czech the fridge
Amanda: im russian to the kitchen
Luisa: maybe you will find some turkey
Amanda: we have some but it is covered in a layer of greece
Luisa: ew, there is norway you can eat that
Amanda: i think i'll settle for a can of chile
Luisa: that sounds appetizing, i would love a canada chile as well
Amanda: denmark your name on the can

Pelekania

are they allowed to do that?

Whoever the maker of these billboards is needs to be fired. They are guaranteed to either make you cry because they hurt your feelings or make you cry from laughing. Either way, I can't believe that these are real billboards posted up across the country. I don't even want to think about the controversy they probably started when the public saw them.

 Just incase you couldn't read the fine print, the ad is for a funeral home and cemetery. Yeah. Get it now? Wouldn't be caught DEAD in that dress. How nice.

 I didn't have a whole lot to say about this one until I read the caption. This woman, YaVaughnie, she payed $250,000 to have these billboards posted up in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco as revenge to show the eight-and-a-half-year affair she was had with this man, Charles Phillips, who reconciled with his wife. The pictures have been taken down.

 Not gonna lie, this one made me laugh. I wonder what Tiger had to say about this? You look at it and laugh but then you have to read the small print below because it's not even what you probably thought to start with. No, it's for cats and dogs. Just lovely.

 I don't even know what to say about this one. It's insulting to women and whales everywhere.

For more hilariously insulting billboards, click here.

Pelekania