"Science is constantly discovering lots of lovely things out in the universe that have the potential to kill us."

Happy (Early) Halloween from Charlie McDonnell, whose videos are among my favorite internet procrastination aids:



Now back to writing.

Mozart's Sister

I don't have time to pick out a song today, but I still wanted to drop in and say hi. So, "Hi!" This past week has been a whirlwind of new classes and new roommates. (They're wonderful, by the way, although I am alarmed at how quickly one of them pounces on dirty dishes; she washed two of mine today before I even had time to go grab a rag. But I am not complaining.)

Last Saturday, I took a break from work and homework to attend a screening of Mozart's Sister, which is a film about Nannerl, who was--as the title says--Mozart's sister. It's funny at times--the actor playing the Dauphin has such an intense gaze that my friend and I had a hard time not giggling at tense moments--but mostly it's sad, because, like her brother, Nannerl possessed incredible musical talent. Unlike her brother, however, she didn't get to use it, because she was a girl. The movie (which is speculative, so the following might not be true) focuses on a time when Nannerl was acquainted with members of the French royal family, and in which she composed some music for the Dauphin. Later, she devoted her life to her brother's music. As far as I know, none of her work survives.

Here's the trailer, which is subtitled, because the movie is in French. (I just came from French class. Hmm.)

Happy Monday,

A Decade of Ron Weasley Looking . . .

Dumbfounded.

Except that he doesn't look dumbfounded in all of these pictures.

(Via bookshelvesofdoom.)

Pumpkin on a stick!

I went to the store with my mom tonight to help her pick out seeds for her garden, and my eyes went immediately to the packages of seeds for pumpkins, gourds, and fall grasses. (Fall is my favorite season. I'm already getting excited for September.) When I saw a package of something called Pumpkin-on-a-stick, I made a noise that was something between a giggle and a gasp.



They're so cute, and odd, and--before this evening--I had no idea they existed. Take a look at the cuteness:



Image from Garden Life

The seeds suggested putting them in a high traffic area so one could be entertained by visitors' comments about the plant. I can imagine the questions:

"Is this thing real?"

"Why did you glue plastic pumpkins to your bush?"

"Are you planning on carving tiny jack o' lanterns?"



Yes, yes I am. (Image from Listsoplenty.)



They're just so odd and adorable. I want to plant some and stick them all over the apartment-ette (I call it that because it is very, very small and I'm wondering whether or not the university originally built them for two people) I will be sharing with three other girls across town next school year.

Not exactly pumpkins-on-a-stick, but still pretty cute. (Image from GoodHousekeeping.)

I waved the package excitedly at my mom, who she said we could buy them if I would take are of them. They would need to be staked, and I've never done much gardening. (I might manage to kill the cute little things.) But I may go back to the store and pick some up . . .

Oh, the Irony: On Procrastination

I watched this video last week when I was procrastinating studying for my Art History final.



I find this video entertaining and brilliant, and I plan on inflicting it on the freshmen in my academic mentoring discussion group in the fall. (Insert evil laugh here?) Officially, I'm supposed to discourage procrastination. (And this video has some great tips for reducing it.) But in real life, I think procrastination can be useful. Taking a break can lead to more creative thinking. I get some of my best ideas for my assignments when I'm avoiding them. (Which I sometimes do by doing research for other assignments. . .)

For me, the trick was acknowledging my procrastination habits and figuring out how to work with them. (In other words, I actually make time to chase rabbits and get off task.) I also know that, when I plan to cut assignments close, I'm playing with fire. A bazillion things could go wrong that I don't have time to fix: the printer might malfunction, I might misplace all my pencils, etc. But, because I work best by taking up all the time I have to work on something instead of finishing it super early, I regularly accept these risks.

How do you feel about procrastination? Is it worthless or potentially useful?

"Interjections!"

I will probably be asked some questions about them at the final for my Communication, Language, and Grammar class.



I am so ready to be done with this semester.

"It seems kind of gangster cute."

I just had to surface from end-of-semester-craziness to share this:



You can read the story instead of listening to it here. And you can see outakes and visuals below:


Crochet On A Bear Statue from Jennifer Sharpe on Vimeo.

Doing artsy things outside and being mystified by the lack of response from joggers, etc? I know nothing about it.

NPR's Best Photo from the Royal Wedding

While millions of onlookers enjoyed the newlyweds' kiss at Buckingham Palace, a certain someone (left) seemed to be not pleased. (Caption via NPR.)

Something to like on a Monday

I don't really like Piet Mondrian or the de Stijl movement--the Centre Pompidou was featuring a Mondrian exhibit when I was in Paris in January, and I was quite glad that it was closed when we walked by because that meant I didn't have to go in--but for some reason, I do like this message board I spotted on ModCloth:

Image from ModCloth.

Musical Monday (71): "I'm Reading a Book" by Julian Smith

I'm still alive and fine and all; I've just been horribly busy.

But not too busy to enjoy this week's song, "I'm Reading a Book" by Julian Smith.



"I'm at the library where they call me a crook. I never even pay for my library books . . ." Too much fun. (Found via the hilarious Kiersten White.)

Hoping you had a happy Easter (or a lovely Sunday if you don't celebrate Easter),

and wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

A zombie-free campus & a French film

Happy Monday! (If I fake enthusiasm, maybe I'll begin to feel it?) There is no song today because I wanted to post about other things.

First, in the war between humans and zombies on my college campus, the humans won! Hooray! One of my friends who played the game and managed to stay human until the end informed me that the humans won by detonating a cookie bomb that made all the zombies human again. A campus-wide e-mail announced their victory and explained what a cookie bomb is:

The eight-day saga finally ended Wednesday afternoon when a brave group of Human Resistance fighters were able to construct a Zombie Virus Cure Bomb using ingredients that they had to gather from around campus. (When combined, the cure’s ingredients doubled as a recipe for chocolate chip cookies… Who knew, right?)


Despite suffering key personnel losses at the hands of a fierce zombie contingent, sixteen Resistance members were still able to hold off long enough to detonate the Cure Bomb, sending the Zombie Virus Cure into the air . . . and turning everyone immediately (and hopefully permanently) back into a human. Breathe a sigh of relief, campus – no Zombie Apocalypse this year!

I miss the spontaneous Nerf gun fights in between classes, but I'm glad the paranoia is over. Some people got really, really into it. Zombie patrols outside dorms made it difficult for humans to sneak out to the cafeteria for supper. One of my friends who was playing explained that it was hardest on the underclassmen, who had to go to the caf (because they're required to have meal plans), but that they should have stocked up before the game...just like in a real zombie apocalpyse. She said this with a straight face.

I also miss seeing this on the bulletin board by Student Development near the coffee shop:

Risk of Zombie Attack: High

But I'll get over it. There was a Zombie-Human Peace Fire on Friday night that was advertised as:
S’mores. Campfire songs. Conflict resolution. I didn't make it, but it sounds like it was a good opportunity for both sides to make up and move on.

Aaaand second, I spent part of my Saturday afternoon at a mandatory film event for French class. We watched Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis, which is translated as Welcome to the Sticks. I'm not sure why; there's nothing about sticks in this movie. But it is funny. Here's the UK trailer:

My French prof is from Belgium, and she explained that Shtis is a dialect in the north of France. She's from southern Belgium--not too far from the part of France that speaks Shtis--so she understands it. Apparently they turn a lot of "s" sounds into "sh." This film reminds me of New in Town (trailer below), but...funnier.

Wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

From The Ice Cream Changes to Pachelbel Rant

I showed The Ice Cream Changes to my roommate last night. She's a music major, so she shared it with a music prof, who then told her about Pachelbel Rant.

The guy in Pachelbel Rant does with the chords of Pachelbel's "Canon in D" what Hank Green does with The Ice Cream Chords.  One small warning: There are a few swear words toward the end of the video. If you for some reason do not want to hear them, stop watching at about 4:50.



"Punk music is a joke, it's really just baroque."

The Ice Cream Changes

The "Friday, Friday" bit is where I really cracked up.

A Great and Terrible Library

"Sorry, I get very upset when people screw around with libraries."

I am very interested to hear what the Nerdfighters discover about this library. And while I can empathize with John Green's frustration that Ivan the Terrible died before he could think to tell someone where the fancy library is, I'm not helping them research because I'm frustrated with a research project of my own. More on that later.

Happy Tuesday,

Heart-Shaped Cakes in Stop Motion: a Youtube Valentine

Via Cakespy.

A Very Zombie Holiday

Tips--some of them mildly disturbing--for surviving a zombie apocalypse during the holiday season.


Via bookshelves of doom.

They dance quite well in Belgium.

I'm taking French this year. My French professor is Belgian, and she's fantastic. She talks about chocolate a lot and stomps her high-heeled shoes whenever we mispronounce words. We didn't have any homework for this last Monday because she wanted to tell us about Belgium. She talked about the different languages that are spoken there, festivals, what universities are like there, etc. She also showed us this video of a dancing flash mob in Antwerp:

PS: I noticed a couple comments on the last Musical Monday asking about how I find/pick the music out. I can certainly post about music-finding if anyone's interested :)

"We have nothing to nom!"

John Green on the beginning of the French Revolution:

Thank you, Maggie Stiefvater...

...for posting this video on your blog today:



Laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh,

VAMPIRES ARE NOT IRONIC, STEVE.

How The Vampire Boom Really Began: A Totally Fictional Flight of Fancy from NPR. My friend Amber (she of the knitting super powers) pointed this out to me, and I'm still giggling a bit.

Excuse me,