Christmas Time Around the Corner

I know I haven't posted in a little over a month. For two weeks I thought my computer was broken but it wasn't. Computers need a little time to rest too. I have a little confession to make: I secretly have been putting off blogging to watch The Bad Girls Club. I have never watched the show before like I watched this season. It's insane. There are ten girls total and three of the original seven girls only made it to the end. Only three. That's terrible. These girls are claiming to be the toughest person and backstabbing each other. I wont't make this post about them.

Tonight is the last day of November and tomorrow marks the first day of December. Although I won't be spending much money this Christmas, I will be watching all the Christmas specials on ABC Family for free. This is the best time of the year excluding my birthday. Then there's ice skating and seeing all the window displays. It's very exciting.

Farewell Jersey Shore, For Now

This week is officially the last week the world is going to be able to fist pump along with the cast members of Jersey Shore. Although the show wasn't fun once Angelina left, a lot has happened since the first episode. Snooki slept with Vinny, the person she looks up to as a brother, who also slept whith Angelina, Mike and Pauly brought home girls 24/7, and Vinny put his heart on the line for the most beautiful girl who rejected Mike. Each memeber of this small knit Italian family is unique. There's Mike the instigator, Pauly the cool guy, Vinny the man between Snooki and Angelina, Ronnie who isn't sure what he wants, Sammi who doesn't realize her girls were really looking out for her, Angelina the trash--talker, Jenni the fighter, and lastly Snooki who wants to find her juice head boyfriend at the club.

Looking back on the whole season I think everyone will agree with me and say that the girl fight between Jenni and Sammi was the most memorable episode. The tensions were high and then out of nowhere Sammi had confidence. I wonder where that came from! Probably from Ronnie trying to defuse the frustration away from him. So typical. Then there are the men in the house who just nodded their heads just to avoid conflict for themselves. Oh and Snooki, the one who's sarcasm is just lovely in every episode. She can never make it out of a fight alive.

I wonder if season three is going to be just as great as this season. Angelina is offiially gone but does that mean no more drama? I sure hope there are a a whole lot of funny moments in the next season so that everyone can pull out quotes from this ridiculously catchy reality TV show.

Retire the VMA's!

As we all know, the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards was live Sunday night and it was horrible. There were no outbursts, arguments, Kanye West stunt, or anything scandelous. Many hopeful and dedicated fans of the VMA's didn't waste any time blogging aka trashing the show that used to be the first thing talked about at school on a Monday morning. Lady Gaga didn't even perform and everyone knows she's sure to put on a great show.

I am devastated that the show was bland. I remember a time when MTV had to fit three performers in one performance and the length of the show was three hours, not two hours. And all the popular musicians were actually at the VMA's! I think it's time MTV retired the VMA's even if this show had the highest ratings since the 2002 show. What happened to the viewer's choice award? MTV is a reality show and the only music that is played is during the TV (prescripted) shows. I propose MTV call it quits after the 2014 VMA's where it will be their 30th show.

I had this long conversation with my brother and we came to the realization that times are changing. BET is also a network for shows and not music. When I was home during the summer in middle school, I remember BET played music videos from 9AM-1PM. Now they play The Jamie Foxx Show, The Game, and One on One.

It's jsut sad that the show is in two hours, not enough spectacular performances, and extremely bad jokes amde my the hosts.

Fist Pump

School is officially back in session! What exactly does that mean? New shows and new seasons of shows. I don't know when Pretty Little Liars will be back on but I can't wait. In the meantime, there's Jersey Shore. I know this show is absolutely ridiculous but I can't help watching it. Snooki and The Situation are probably the two people who make the show worth watching the most. The Situation has a plan to creep on as many women as he can as long as they are not grenades--he has such a way with women. As for Snooki, you just have to love her her sarcasm. She acknowledges her small vocabulary of words ans she's Snooki.

Right now, MTV has decided to save all anticipated fight between JWOW and Sammi until the last three minutes before the hour long reality show ends. What a way to get ratings highter! Build anticipation. I definitely want to see all the heated arguments that follows after JWOW. There's going to be something to talk about for the rest of the week.

High School Carrie Bradshaw

I haven't been updating for the past few weeks, but I have read some pretty great books. I recently read Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries. This YA novel is absolutely the best introduction to Sex and the City. A senior in high school, Carrie Bradshaw is a sweet innocent girl much to her dismay school and then heartbreaker Sebastian creates a whole load of confusion for Carrie and the so called best friend Lali.

A classic high school friendship destroyed because of a boy who gets away with all the schemes. While I read this novel, I kept thinking about the relationship girls have with one another. Though not all girls are catty , verbally destructive and just plain mean, the dynamics of are still somewhat stereotyped. Carrie is blinded by Lali''s wrong faults in playing tricks and not putting much effort to even hide her betrayal from Carrie. Also, the punishment is not distributed fairly between couple who are caught in the act. It get's juicer and more questionable when Carrie only forgives one person.

Carrie is beginning to start her writing career early by applying to The New School and enjoying the last bits of high school. However, don't be fooled ! Carrie isn't the same person she later becomes in Sex and the City. Miss Fashion Forward is beginning to acquire a eye for fashion but it's not entirely there yet. One fashion accessory at a time to ease the stress of insecurity and wondering about the same old problems.

Candnce Bushnell uses Carrie to express a simple thought about whetre or not a person is a bad beacuse he or she betrays another person. This is a interesting thought and I agree with Carrie's take on the issue; I am just as confused as she is. This section towards the end of the book wraps up the end of high school drama and the beginning of life in New York City. This novel is fun sweet and the last last line is just asbolutely phenomonal leading straight to Sex and the City.

Star Island

I have recently been reading Carl Hiaasen's new novel, Star Island, and it's definitely great. I actually didn't know that the title of the novel is from a very exclusive secluded place in Flordia. I attended a book event for him at Barnes and Nobles on 82nd Street two weeks ago where he described the process of writing the book and talked about celebrities. The whole wold is Hollywood crazy and seeing how Hiaasen writes a book about the papparazzi, I think he captures the exact POV of celebrity stalkers. It's actually funny the amount of deals made between the characters. Of course this novel sounds like a day in the life of Lindsay Lohan and any other out of control Hollwood star the characters are amusing.

Reality Check

Continuing with my updates, I have been so busy reading and attending author events. Last week I saw Chuck Klosterman talk about pop culture: Lady Gaga, LeBron James and soccer. His take on everything is hiliarious!

This week I am reading Cavedweller by one of my favorite authors, Dorothy Allison. The first book I read by her was Bastard Out of Carolina and it was extremely vivid and hearbreaking to read. The descriptions and the setting had a great impact on the life of young Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright. Of course I won't spoil the plot of the book but I will say this: child abuse is wrong.

I am half way through Cavedweller and I noticed some similiarities in the two books. Allsion stretches the importance and diversity of the mother-daughther relationship almost in the same way. Both books deal with the idea of domestic violence in a small town. Bastard Out of Carolina shows the unfair treatment Bone receives from her selfish mother who chooses her abusive husband over her own daughter. So far in Cavedweller, Delia's daughter Cissy feels unhappy about moving to Cayro and even neglected when Delia talks about reuniting with her other two daughters. I have a feeling the relationships among the women will continue to intensify as I kee turning the pages.

This reoccuring theme is fantastic because it inspires Dorothy Allsion to write how women intereact with each other and how they come to terms with their lives in past and present. She certainly has a knack for telling a beautiful story and setting reality back into perspective. That's one of the reasons I love reading non-fiction!

Fashionista Book

This week Lady Gaga is in concert at Madison Square Garden and I don't have tickets. I originally had this super orgainzed plan of buying tickets at the minute the time the tickets went on sale(10 AM), but I underestimated her much more dedicated fans she has than I am to her. She's been doing fantastic for the past year and why not? She's just phenomenal making people want to embrace their true personalities. We're always taught be ourselves and she takes it to the extreme.

With all the celebrities publishing books, I wonder just how many copies Lady Gaga would sell if she publishes her own book. There is absolutely no doubt she would earn out the money because she is taking over the music industry. Not to forget, she is being compared to Michael Jackson, who also published his autobiography known as Moonwalk. His book did great debuting at number two on the New York Bestsellers list but that's no surprise. I can't even imagine what Lady Gaga's sales would be like in the first week. I would think she would writet about fashion and being a "monster" herself. I think it would be an original idea to write about the process of being physically involved in the attire she wears on and off stage. I don't even know how she wears the weirdly designed shoes and the spiked shoulder pads. You get the point.

I haven't even mentioned how easy and costly it would be to do publicity and marketing for a book by Lady Gaga. Publicity would social medias such as Z100, MTV, subway posters, advertising on her own personal website, bookstores, The View, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, and etc. As for marketing, Lady Gaga is a marketing tool herself. I am positively sure making a deal with a publishing house is going to make people want to faint, but I have strong feeling the book will be beyond successful.

Time to Play the Game!

First and foremost, I have to make a comment of last night's episode of Pretty Little Liars. As usual there was a cliffhanger and the plot is evolving slowly but that's on a good note. The girls tried to get rid of "A" but they're going to have to try a lot harder before life can be normal again.

This past weekend I read a brilliant book. This book The Westing Game by deceased author, Ellen Raskin, happens to be amazingly complex. I do want to give you a thorough idea of the context without giving away too much. Raskin's works al have a main theme: disguise. She likes to write fun mysteries usually targeted toward children/ young adults but everyone will enjoy it. The plots can be confusing but by the time the story is complete, every little detail falls into place.

The Westing Game involves a wicked old Sam Westing who decides to play one last trick on his sixteen heirs. Sixteen heirs, eight pairs of teams who are formed together for a reason. One of them is a bomber, one is a faker, one is a theif, some are plain liars ( only for a good cause though),and one paticular person hides valuable information from the other people.

I read this book last summer and because I decided to read this book again, I missed the signs leading to the culprit behind the mystery. As for the mystery, it seems that the wealthy Sam Westing is dead. The problem is Sam Westing has outsmarted his dear sixteen heirs. To be quite honest Sam Westing is similir to Ellen Raskin. Raskin leaves clues throughout her books and she makes sure every word counts. I didn't even realize the use of direction is used as clues to identity the solution of the big mystery until I finished the book, for the second time.

Be warned! There are more than sixteen characters mentioned in the book who are important. Reading the book over the weekend, I forgot who is behind the death of Sam Westing, and I was on the edge of my seat. If you can remember anything about this book, remember this: disguise. Some of the characters take on more than one role. Which characters do this? There's only one way to find out and that's by reading this brillantly worded and plotted book by Ellen Raskin.

Suspense!

Yesterday I watched the third episode of Pretty Little Liars on the ABC Family website. My TV has not been working, and I was deeply saddened by the thought of not being able to watch this weeks episode.

Pretty Little Liars is based on the book series written by Sara Shepard. The storyline revolves around four friends who reunite and find out that their friend, Allison who disappeared over a year in the TV show and three years in the book is now dead. All of the four friends receive text messages relating to secrets only Allison knew in addition to things happening in the present time. There is a beautiful mystery element of the unknown person sending the text messages to Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria. Who this person is I have not figured out yet. It could be Jenna the blind girl who is only blind because of Allison's decided to get sweet revenge on a so called Peeping Tom, Jenna's savior from that terrible nightm her stepbrother or someone else?

This mysterious technique reminds me of another book. I remember my eighth grade teacher reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak to the class and everyone wanting to know why the main character's, Melinda, peers refuse to talk to her once school began in the fall. My teacher didn't finish the book. In my high school years, a friend of mine read the book. I just had to know what happens in the rest of the book so I read it myself. Throughout the novel, Anderson doesn't reveal why Melinda feels the effect of isolation from the students until the end and that the same technique Shepard uses for her multiple books. If you haven't read that book I suggest you do. This book was made into a TV movie with the same title.

I always love reading books that are engaging and I love suspense. These two books are worth reading. Suspense is what keeps the ratings and sales high too!

Dating and Relationship Books

This is officially my first post. I recently graduated from the City College of New York with a Bachelor's degree in English, a concentration in Creative Writing to be exact.

With that being said, I recently read Become Your Own Matchmaker: 8 Easy Steps for Attracting Your Perfect Mate by Patti Stanger with Lisa Johnson Mandell. It was published a year ago but i wanted to wait until it was published in paperback. I know it sounds a bit cheesy to read a book like that, but I am curious on her take on the whole dating process. I have been a fan of her Bravo TV show Millionaire Matchmaker since last year and I absolutely love her bold personality. Even though the main idea behind the book is for a woman to get married in a year or so, she does bring up some valuable points on dating and relationships.

Another book with the same refreshing honesty is Crash Course in Love by VH1 host of Tough Love, Steve Ward and JoAnn Ward. I also happen to love watching this show just for the fun of watching it. The book is mostly written from Steve Ward's perspective and he is pretty blunt. With this book, the goal isn't aiming for marriage but for a committed relationship. It's definitely more realistic, not to say that Stanger's book is not the same, but it's definitely fun to read.

I always find it amusing to talk about love and relationships because everyone has an opinon about it.I might think this is okay to do but when you read it from a matchmaker's perspective, he or she might say that you are going about the dating process the wrong way. I'm sure mostly women would be interested in these types of book such as myself and it's always a good way to transition into another conversation-- one about love.