stephenie meyer, eat your heart out

I was perusing through the children's books section the other day at the library. I figured if I really want to take this librarian thing seriously, I should pay some attention to what's going on with the children and young adult sector.

Well I was dawdling along, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic for my wee days as an avid library junkie.

Here are some of my favorites:

American Girls Collection: the Samantha Series
These books could make my list just by their mere aesthetic value. I loved their quality white trade paper pages and their beautiful colored illustrations. I read all of the old-school series (Kirsten, Molly, Samantha). I think my fixation was partially derived from my blasé attitude towards the current period that I lived in (It was such a bore growing up as a SoCal Korean-American girl in the 90's!), because I loved hearing stories from a different era especially Samantha's period (1904, "The Edwardian era"). I really wanted to be Samantha Parkington (no kidding... for my 10th birthday, I even dressed up like her and had a Samantha-themed party).

Judy Blume "Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself"
The lighter, less serious of Blume's books (Blubber was just too mean, Are You There God? talked too much about periods and boobies which my pure, innocent mind wasn't ready for)... Sally J. Freedman was a fun read that still sticks with me today. She was so adventurous and full of spunk. I felt very connected to her and her very real, unglamourous experiences growing up (e.g. getting head lice, fighting with her brother, being brought up by her granny, even getting pooped on by a bird & finding a cockroach in her Chinese food). I didn't know who Adolf Hitler was at the time, but I remember I started suspecting random neighbors of being Adolf Hitler.

E.L. Konigsburg "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"/C.S. Lewis "Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe"
Thanks to these books, I always checked every closet in hopes of finding another world and tried to trick my parents in letting me sleep over the mall countless times (I know... the kids slept over the Met, but there wasn't a museum in close vicinity of my home and besides, the mall has so much more amenities). My friend and I even constructed this intricate, "fail-proof" plan of being stranded at our mall: we would tell our parents that the other person's parent was going to pick us up, and we would sleep in the Department store beds, get hotdogs from the Hot Dog on a Stick booth, play with all the toys at K.B. etc.. But our parents talked to each other, and we got caught!

Donald J. Sobol "Encyclopedia Brown" Series

I had the biggest schoolgirl crush on this boy (I guess I've always had a soft spot for geeks). Though some of his "cases" were kind of bogus, I loved the interactive element of these books. I also liked the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, but they kind of spooked me out (and plus I would always cheat).

Ann M. Martin "Babysitters Club"/ Francine Pascal "Sweet Valley Twins"

I feel as though the Wakefield twins and the BSC members were like my childhood friends. I lived vicariously through their school dances, movie dates, club meetings, trips to Hawaii, murder mysteries, Christmas specials, etc. Oh how sweet it is to be a young, pretty, white pre-teen~ Okay, I have to cut Ann M. Martin some slack... so the BSC was a bit more ahead of their times with an Asian girl (Claudia <3) and a Black girl. And I liked how Claud wasn't a stereotypical, nerdy, unpopular Asian either... in fact, she was kind of illiterate.

Jerry Spinelli "Maniac Magee"

Spinelli frequents the theme of "the outsider overcoming all odds." Magee would be #2 in my creepy list of young fictional boys I wanted to date while I was a kid. This book is like Westside Story, Forrest Gump, and Huckleberry Finn wrapped up in one story. Even as a elementary student, I could remember reading this book and thinking it was amazing. I tried reading some of Spinelli's other books, but "Stargirl" and "Eggs" annoyed me to no end.

Louis Sachar "Wayside School Series"

Until this day, I have yet to find childrens' books that are as funny, clever, and entertaining as this series (Actually, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"is pretty good). Sachar is a genius. I was always jealous of the kids at Wayside and was discontent with my lame flat, one-storied elementary school. I loved his stories and his characters: Poor Todd always getting detention, Benjamin Nushmutt and his unfortunate name, Miss Mush and her mystery meat, Miss Zarves and her non-existent 19th story classroom. I remember feeling a little depressed and going into mourning when the school was shut down in the sequel "Wayside School is Falling Down"... but then, they made a comeback with "Wayside School Get's a Little Stranger" and it was all good.

vonnegut is king

"How to Write With Style" by Kurt Vonnegut

1. Find a subject you care about.
2. Do not ramble, though.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Have the guts to cut.
5. Sound like yourself.
6. Say what you mean to say.
7. Pity the readers.

oldie but goodie

epik high mv's always have with this strange, creepy, ethereal quality. i love it.

Up (spoiler alert!)

I watched the movie "Up" yesterday.  I went into the theater with little to no expectations.  

I learned from the past, because I remember anticipating Wall-E months before its release and being inevitably disappointed.  I really wanted to like it... I really did.  I love robots.  I loved Short Circuit, I like R2D2, I visit/read Giant Robot,  I used to listen to Ima Robot, I like Kid Robot.   My favorite character from Futurama is Bender (He looks like Homer, but... a robot!). And despite it's 96% rating on Rottentomatoes.com,  I remember feeling like there was something missing in the film... yeah it was beautifully made and had a strong eco and socially conscious message, but there was no emotional attachment.  Call me a sentimentalist, but I felt no pull towards the characters.  I thought Eve was freaking annoying.   And I kind of didn't like the instructive/preachy feel of the movie... c'mon lets keep it simple with the lessons on friendship and love.  I enjoyed the first half of the movie (when Wall-E was just by himself living his little quiet life) a lot more than the second portion where the movie turned too grand and noble.  

And I guess Up did try to be a bit preachy too about endangered species (couldn't stand Kevin and her scary eyes... they should've ditched her when they had the chance) or whatnot, but the overpowering theme of loss and moving on really warmed my heart.  I think I cried 3 times throughout the whole film (not that the amount of tears should measure the quality of the movie), but that's how connected I felt to it.   Or maybe I felt more connected just because Russell was ambiguously Asian... he had to be Asian, no? (Those neglectful Asian dads always out making money and not having time to attend his son's boy scout activities)!  

Also, why is it so much sadder to me when grandmas pass away and leave their husbands behind than vice versa?  I read this children's picture book at the bookstore once and the story was centered on this man and him dealing with his wife passing away (I forgot the name of the book but there was a piece of red string that was used with the illustration on every page... I suppose it was a metaphor of life or something), and I was pretty much bawling by the end of it.   Someone suggested that it's because women have larger social circles and are more dependent on their families & friends, so they won't be as lonely if they are left behind.  I think this is partially true.  To expand on that, I think that men are more "romantics" at heart in the sense that they only have/allow a limited capacity to love, while women are more freely giving of their love to many different people.  Therefore, because we give so much, we fill more fulfilled and less lonely.  Okay, these are my crazy generalizations once again.  But watch "Up."

dirty pop

After more than 6+ months of not watching any television (I lied... I did catch the season finale of gossip girl... totally unplanned), I just happened to stumble upon the MTV movie awards the other night.

Isn't it sad... I didn't even know the name of the guy who was hosting the whole thing. In fact, I only realized who he was halfway through the program because I remembered he was one of the dancers in that SNL skit (Beyonce's mv) with Justin Timberlake, Horatio Sans(?), and Paul Rudd, and I must've watched that clip maybe like 10 times. And what was surprising to me is that I actually found the opening act/skits of the awards pretty hilarious. I even found myself laughing out loud several times. Except there was this one part where Justin T. told the host that his penis looked like Fergie, which I found kind of mean. (Even I felt bad for her, and I really really don't like Fergie). Then, I realized living back at home, how deprived I was of American pop culture for the past few months. I guess a lot of it has to do with my recent, unhealthy fixation with k-pop. I couldn't help but feel a bit of an imbalance in my life... I realized I would go to sleep many uneasy nights without my daily dose of Conan & Colbert. When people would refer to a commercial or a new movie trailer, I would have no clue what they were talking about. I even almost forgot the beauty of Robert Pattinson.

Also, Korean humor and American humor are so different, but I appreciate the merits of both. There's something much more "child-like and goofy" about Korean humor... Koreans also use a lot more physical comedy, and even if something is really cheesy or lame, it can still be hilarious if the right person says it. Whereas American humor seems a bit more brash, more scathing at times. A lot more sarcasm is used. I don't even know what the Korean word for "sarcastic" is. But that's just my limited opinion from watching mainstream television, so don't take my word on it.

btw: I don't know when's the last time I've seen him, but Eminem hasn't aged a bit...