Kyle|Steeno

So we’re sitting around in our mobile Lit classroom, and it’s our off hour. You may ask ‘why the hell would you go to Lit during an off hour?’
Kyla’s response is ‘Because we’re nerds.’
Brendon’s answer is ‘OW.’ (and cue falling on the floor in pain.)
Mine is ‘because it’s empty, and there are no campus Nazis out here.’

So yeah.

I’ve recently noticed just how much the older generations comment on ‘young people’s’ desire to say something about absolutely everything, and I’ve realized that it’s true. When you’re deep in conversation with an older person, they will easily listen to you with no participation until invitation, or when there is a prompt for them to say something. When two younger kids are speaking, the conversation constantly goes back and forth, no matter what dialogue you’re having; younger people have an incessant need to interrupt sentances so that the other can know exactly what our opinion is on every subject.

I believe it’s because we’ve been raised in a society that encourages such behavior. When you go on Facebook, you almost feel obligated to comment on someone’s new photograph of themselves, or to add a ‘Like’ icon to the status of a friend. Exactly 120 seconds ago, Selena Gomez posted some ditty about her new CD: over 100 comments, over 420 likes. Something’s wrong.

Just putting that out there.

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted anything new in a pretty long time. I’ve been working at VBS, editing video for a client, designing posters for another client, served on a mission trip in Las Vegas for a week, camped in the mountains that weekend, and threw an 18th birthday party for my brother Neil.

I have excuses.

I did, however, just get paid for my last video job…and I’ve decided to use that money to buy a new iPod touch. And it’s like the coolest thing ever. Ever. Dave, I think you need one. I’m able to check virtually anything I want. I even have the ability to post on WordPress from it; maybe my next post will be from it.

My favorite app? I don’t have one. Each one is so different. ‘Things’ keeps me organized, (and poor…$9.99, ouch. But totally worth it.) ‘Facebook’ keeps me in touch, ‘Urbanspoon’ keeps me full, ‘Bloons’ keeps me entertained, ‘MySpace’ keeps me looking like a normal teenager for the sake of appearances, and ‘Flashlight’ keeps me awake. It’s pretty much a bundle of love.

Digital love.

I’m finally uploading some videos to iTunes. At 12:05 am…yeah. I’m trying to use as much technology as possible before Saturday to satiate me until I get back next week. No phone, no iPod, no laptop, no wi-fi, no desktop, no SMS, no DVDs, no TV, no Wii, no PSP, and no flash drives.

We’ll see.

We had our closing performance of the world’s most popular opera yesterday evening. I messed up my solo really bad (The Night, aka Drink With Me) but we recovered quickly. The audience was receptive and supportive, and I was very proud of my choir department. It was not NYT-par, but you really can’t go wrong with such powerful music.

What I did not enjoy was how some people did not listen when the director told the audience to “put away your art critic and allow yourself to experience the love and emotion of a student’s work of art.” These people include (well, mostly consist of) my parents. They do nothing but criticize kids on how they think things should have gone. They didn’t like the proximity of the audience to the actors. (It made them feel uncomfortable. Actors…mission accomplished.) They complained about the kids. They complained about the lighting. Every single person in the audience gave us a standing ovation…except my parents. My mother is so nitpicky that she complained about the damn font on the program. It really, really, really, really, really irked me. So as she was telling me all these things on the ride home, I would always reply with a noncommittal ‘mmm-hmm.’ Then she got mad because she didn’t think I wanted to talk to her, and she was right. Who wants to talk to someone that does nothing but criticize a student’s 6-week work of art? Not me.

But the show went well, and I don’t give a crap if my mom liked it or not.

I liked it.

And that’s what counts.

I’m sitting in my Language Arts class right now, and I just finished my final test on Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. I enjoyed the book, actually, which is relatively surprising. I usually very much dislike school reads, but this one was pretty interesting. It follows the story of four pairs of women, four mothers and four daughters. The mothers all moved to America from China, and formed a club where they play Mah-jong. Then one of the mothers dies, and her daughter must take her place at the Mah-jong table. The story proceeds as a bunch of flashbacks sprinkled in with some current events. It sounds boring, but really it’s not.

I think I did fairly well on the test. It was a series of 3 one-page prompts, which had to be completed in 2 hours using examples from the novel and some critical thinking. It wasn’t hard.

And now I’m really, incredibly, insanely bored. I finished one hour before it was due, so I’m sitting here, wishing that the school firewall wouldn’t block access to facebook. Sigh. There’s nothing to do. Tears.

I have it bad.

And I’m a Sophomore.

All our teachers are giving us the usual “just because the year is almost over doesn’t mean we’re relaxing any work” speech. And this time they mean it. It’s one week before finals, and my French teacher has given us pop assessments every day for the past week. My history teacher assigned another big China project. Language Arts has a big book test on Thursday, having just finished back-to-back socratic seminars. Science…is science. She decided to start an all-new topic this week. (At least Ecology is really easy.) We’ve spent more time taking math tests than sleeping. And on top of it all, opening night for Les Miserables is tomorrow.

Hence the Senioritis.

I want out.

The season 3 finale of Heroes aired last night, and let me tell you, it was incredible. Epic fights, slitting throats (literally) a new villain, the return of Ali Larter, and Hiro gets an earbleed. It was bloody fantastic, in every sense of that phrase.

However, Heroes is not the only television show on my weekly TV agenda. Here, I am going to do a quick review of this season’s new, great, or just plain unfortunate shows.

Kings
I had been looking forward to seeing this show before its Pilot episode aired. Its marketing was clever, appealing, and revealed enough to make you feel satisfied, but not so much you don’t want to see the show. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment. The premise of the show, the whole royalty ruling the modern age thing, fell to pieces, and the only references to royalty were in conversation. The ‘King’ never seemed like a king…just a President called ‘Your Highness.’ The boy playing David, who rose to fame after single-handedly blowing up a tank and rescuing the King’s (gay [no, seriously]) son in the space of 10 minutes, was nice enough to look at, but continuously had the same expression on his face. Plus, the music sucks. Overall, two stars.

Heroes
The way God intended television. Five stars.

The Mentalist
There is nothing special about the Mentalist. But I love it. Hot cast, interesting and easy-to-follow, non-serialized stories…what more could the average television viewee want? Seriously a great show. Not the greatest. But great. Four stars.

Fringe
Fringe is the show for the Star Trek leftovers. It’s overdramatic, gory, and just plain complicated. Though the camerawork is beautiful, I just can’t follow the story easily. Three stars.

The New Adventures of Old Christine
While this isn’t a new show, it’s one of the best comedy shows on television. It’s made for the non-regular audience; you can jump in anytime and start laughing right away. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is even funnier than when she was on Seinfeld, and the show is just…funny. Four stars.

American Dad
Cheap mesh of Family Guy and Futurama. Enough said. One star.

LOST
The biggest gripe viewers and critics alike have for LOST is how closely viewers must follow (and remember) literally hundreds of different storylines. For these viewers, there is a ‘pop up version’ of last week’s episode that airs one hour before the new episode each week. These pop ups contain all the information viewers may need to remember, and there is no reason to be lost, because you watch the episode while getting this information. For the show itself, its classy, interesting, and fun. Three stars.

NCIS
This is definitely the most character-driven cop show there is…and it’s funny. You have the nerdy computer guy (a must on any crime drama) the foreign action-y girl (oooh yes) a movie-obsessed womanizer (he’s my personal favorite) a gothic yet bubbly forensic scientist (I’m not even kidding you) the mortician that holds conversations with corpses (and his name is Ducky…sweet, eh?) and the ever impermable boss guy (who enjoys building boats in his basement…and somehow also gets them out again). The only downer…you can only really appreciate the show after getting to know the characters wel. But I still enjoy it. Four stars.

Chuck
Chuck is weird, quirky, awkward, funny, semi-serialized, actiony, sexy, and totally nerdy all at the same time. Only this show could pull off the plot based around the Best Buy-esque store clerk turned government agent and make it seem somewhat believable. Somewhat. But the hilarity of it makes you forget the far-fetchedness…usually. Three and a half stars.

The Hills
HOLY GOD NO. -3 stars.

Maybe I’ll do more later.