Theater Thursday: The Social Network

I'm talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it on the internet.
That's what this movie is about. Facebook. Things written there aren't written in pencil. It's ink. Permanent. Lasting. Forever.
There are several directions I could take this post. I could hit the world upside the head with my Jane Austen action figure and demand we all go back to quill pens and paper. Long love letters, and stories of balls and lace. I could preach my homeschool stance, saying that too much socialism leads to terrible things like holding hands (I suppose I must point out that I'm being humorous here, because some of you might think I'm actually serious).
I am anxious to see where this film goes. Right now, I can't imagine a world without Facebook. There are so many people I would never talk to without it. Yes, this is a horrible reality to be faced with, but none the less, a true one. At the same time, I don't think there is a single person out there who hasn't been injured by the site. It could be that their self esteem went down because of some girl's air brushed photos, or the fact that they don't have as many friends as so-and-so.
The more I think about it, the more I can correlate it to People Magazine. There is a small part in each of us that wonders what it's like to be famous. Facebook gives us that glimpse! Our relationships and breakups are plastered around like entertainment. Our vacation photos viewed with envy. Our status updates gleaming with over dramatized adventure stories of going to the movies. Yet, we adore it. In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin, did actually launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm room. Since then, the site has reached over 400 million users. 50% of them log on to Facebook on any given day. People spend over 500 billion minutes on Facebook every month.
So what is it about Facebook that draws us in? Let me help you out. These stories were taken from the recently added application Facebook Stories:
"A woman's Facebook status updates from her mobile phone become a lifeline for her and a group of 36 people traveling in Haiti during the earthquake. A recently laid-off man lands a new job by reaching out to his friends on Facebook. After 15 years apart, a father reconnects with his daughter through Facebook" just to name a few.
Despite my post, you must decide for yourself. Is this the culture of death at it's highest? Or just another MySpace? I like to hope the site will take a turn for the better, and that I can use it to express my creative side, as well as my Catholic stance.
Either way, I know the site will live on.

Website Wednesday!

Good evening everyone!

Today I would like to give a shout out to my wonderful friend Adrienne Doring. She was generous enough to take my senior pictures (as you see displayed above) and did a fantastic job! It has been almost 10 months, and I still can't believe how great they are. Every day I discover a new favorite!

Adrienne is so talented, and I am honored to recommend her website. Her business is Magnified Moments, where her pictures will just blow you away. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she is also an amazing woman. I am so inspired by her love for the Catholic Church and her Pro-life stance! Adrienne's husband, Greg, is the director of FOCUS for our area, and they recently had a baby girl, Monica, who is just as cute as can be with her red hair :)

Mailbox Monday & Truthful Tuesday

Mailbox Monday: If you thought waiting 3 months for Liberty of London bedding to arrive was a long time, you will die when I tell you it took 5 months for my very own copy of Enchanted April to finally make it into my hands!

My mother and I have a standing tradition of watching Enchanted April every year, on a rainy night in April. So of course we we're thrilled when the ladies of our book club agreed to add it to the list. After my mother gave away one copy, and one eBay order fell through, I can now say, it's mine!

Truthful Tuesday: I've recently discover that the much younger Alfred Molina and the lead singer of Mumford and Sons have a striking resemblance! And now every time I listen to The Cave, I have that ridiculous image of Mr. Molina in Enchanted April, standing there in his bath towel, with all his chest hair burned off! This is only something you can completely understand, if you've seen the film, and if you're me.

I will spare you the emotional and physical scarring, but if you do wish to see the image, click here.

Food Friday

This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe I've ever found. And look how happy they will make you!! (In case you were wondering, yes, my job is better than yours)

2 ½ c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ lb. (2 sticks) SALTED butter, softened but still firm
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips

Adjust oven rack to low-center position. Heat oven to 350°. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in medium bowl, set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts, stir gently until just incorporated.

Working with generous 2 tablespoons each time, roll dough into 2 inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 ½ inches between each ball. Press each dough ball twice with dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along the edges (but not on top--they will look slightly underbaked) about 10-12 minutes.

Theater Thursday: Inception

There is a fine line between loving this movie, and hating it. To determine which side you will fall on, you should ask yourself this simple question: Can I love a movie, even if I don't understand all of it? If you answered no, save your money. If you answered yes, then this is by far the best movie made this year. To follow your "yes" answer, you should click here and watch the trailer, and then see it as soon as possible.

3 reasons why this movie is awesome:

1. It was directed by Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight (i.e. fantastic chase scenes)

2. Some genius mind followed the tradition of having Leonardo Dicaprio start out in the water.

3. Brilliant cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt (seriously, who doesn't love him after 500 Days of Summer?!), Ellen Page (nice to see her as a more serious character), and Michael Caine (it's a small role, but he brings so much to this film).

Favorite quotes:

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange."

"Quick, give me a kiss."

(she does, then looks around)

"Did that do anything?"

"No, but it was worth a shot."

That's it for Theater Thursday, hope you enjoy it :)

Website Wednesday!

Hello readers,
The website for this lovely Wednesday is http://www.aolnews.com/category/weird-news/

Check it out for a few laughs :)

Truthful Tuesday

This week was difficult. I wanted to think of something personal, and creative to put on here. Something intelligent, and insightful.

Well anyway, that didn't happen. So instead, you get to find out something slightly lame, and a little bit quirky.

I.......like science fiction! I know, who would have ever guessed! I am currently reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, by Douglas Adams.

First, a little background information on the book. The introduction goes something like this:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — not an Earth book, never published on Earth, and until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or heard of by any Earthman. Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book. in fact it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor — of which no Earthman had ever heard either. Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one — more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway? In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words Don't Panic inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

Now that you have a basis for the book, I would like to continue by stating that I do think this series is a classic. I believe a book can be called a classic if it is timeless. I know this to be true in the present situation because you can simply change the quote a bit, and it goes something like this...

"If human beings don't keep Facebooking, their brains will start working!"

Since you are probably a little confused, let me now insert the actual quote.

"It is worth repeating at this point the theories that Ford had come up with, on his first encounter with human beings, to account for their peculiar habit of continually stating and restating the very, very obvious, as in "It's a nice day," or "You're very tall," or "So this is it, we're going to die".His first theory was that if human beings didn't keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably seized up.After a few months of observation he had come up with a second theory, which was this - "If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, their brains start working".In fact, this second theory is more literally true of the Belcerebon people of Kakrafoon.The Belcerebon people used to cause great resentment and insecurity amongst neighboring races by being one of the most enlightened, accomplished, and above all quiet civilizations in the Galaxy. As a punishment for this behavior, which was held to be offensively self righteous and provocative, a Galactic Tribunal inflicted on them that most cruel of all social diseases, telepathy. Consequently, in order to prevent themselves broadcasting every slightest thought that crosses their minds to anyone within a five mile radius, they now have to talk very loudly and continuously about the weather, their little aches and pains, the match this afternoon and what a noisy place Kakrafoon has suddenly become."

My true hope is that this post convinces one of you to read the book, because then I will have someone to talk about it with! If this goal is reached, I will truly be able to say this was a successful Truthful Tuesday :)