Camp Ramblings

Hey, gang!  Long time no speak, I know.  Life keeps getting in the way.  Sigh.

I got off of Skype and watching Fullmetal Alchemist and everything to take a shower about half an hour ago.  I get out--I was supposed to then spend time with the parental units--but I find them curled up asleep together!  It was adorable, and ironic.  xD

So now I come to all three--possibly up to ten--of you from a hotel room in Asheville, North Carolina.  (Almost said North Caroline; by the way, Karnby, I'm thinking of you!  Hope you're having fun at Breyerfest, and I won't hold your radio-silence against me. xD)  I've been at camp for the past two weeks and am currently on Day Two of my three-day session break, a time where most girls (only eight out of a hundred to two hundred girls do what we call split-session) leave as the first of two camp sessions ends.  In this time period, the camp basically hits reset, because at the beginning of the second session, tribal activities and classes take it from the top.  It might as well be a whole new summer, just a totally different crew of girls than the ones that attend the first session.  I'm doing six weeks--the last two weeks of first session and all of second session.  From Thursday afternoon, when first session closed, to Sunday morning, when second session opens, the camp counselors and staff clean the cabins, organize their cubbies, refresh their safety talks for classes, and have a little time off.  I'm staying with my parents over session break, so I get a little breath of civilization before diving back into camp life for another month.

So far, camp has been awesome.  I did some serious bonding with a couple girls, and I miss them dearly already.  Fencing has been great--I've seen techniques like parry one and the flash attack and am practicing an intimidation tactic called friction.  Meanwhile I brush up on my repost, circle six parry, parries seven and eight, redeaublemont (or however you spell it; it's French, pronounced "reh-DOO-bleh-MON, and means "redoublement"), advance lunge, and crossovers.  I got my muscle memory--and therefore my technique--back and managed to fence the best fencer in the entire first session (seriously; the fencing instructors gave her the session's Most Outstanding award for fencing) and walk away not only with my dignity, but with the ability to say she only won by a single point!  Yay me!!

In riflery I've found a gun with good sights and a good weight.  I can get good scores with it, and it has little to no misfires.  I actually can't remember when I've had a misfire with Fang, as I've named the gun.  In riflery, all the guns have names, and once you get your gold with a gun, you can rename it.  I haven't gotten my gold with it (yet; next year, baby!), but some Timberlake boy (Timberlake is our brother camp; we share most of the camp's campus with them but we aren't allowed to interact with them at all) did get their gold and renamed it Blackhawk (it was previously named Peaches, which I thought to be an insult to the gun).  I call it Fang, though.  Maybe Hawkeye Fang.... Fullmetal Alchemist+Maximum Ride FTW.  But nah, I'm taking archery instead of chorus these next four weeks, and I'll probably end up taking to calling one of the bows Hawkeye.  ^^

Watching TBS with my mom now.  Dad's gone to bed now, so it's quality  mother-daughter time.  I'm going back to camp around 12:30-1pm tomorrow.  Lesigh.

Might write more before I go, might not.  But adieu either way. ^^

DFTBA,

Cara

P.S.  READ BOOKS BY JOHN GREEN THEY ARE AMAZING!!!!  An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and Will Greyson, Will Greyson!  READ THEM!!! <3

It's Just One Movie After the Other

Hey, gang.  I'm back again--surprisingly soon, I know.  I have more news for you (whether you care or not).  As predicted, it's about the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games.

So, evidently, I've been living under a rock or something--

Can fifteen minutes really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance--?

*shoves over-dramatic announcer off my blog*  Not interested, dude.  I don't even have my permit yet.  (Tomorrow, I shall conquer the damn DMV!  ...Second time's the charm, right?  o.e)  

ANYWAY.  So yeah, me living under a rock=me not knowing jack about developments regarding THG the movie.  Evidently, they've already cast everyone and are filming it, and the movie's scheduled for release on March 23, 2012.

Um, okay.  You really think there'd be a bigger buzz around the interwebs.  And The Mortal Instruments' City of Bones isn't getting much hype, either.  The fandoms are disappointing me!!!  

By the way, I think I finally figured out why the world *might* end in 2012.  City of Bones, Part 2 of Breaking Dawn, and The Hunger Games, as well as God-only-knows-what-else-I've-missed--the world is simply going to explode because it can't handle the epic.  Only the loyal fans shall remain (except only the sane Twilight fangirls and fanmoms, please).....  *gets momentarily lost in shimmery golden image of a world, based solely on epic young adult fiction series, rising from the ashes of this politic- and war-strewn world----image interrupted by scene of this new world and, instead of wars with the Middle East, its wars being about Team Gale vs. Team Peeta and Team Edward vs. Team Jacob and Team Fang vs. Team Dylan [MaxRide] and....*  

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  Okay, nevermind with my little distopic fantasy world..... God, that's the scariest thought I've had in a long time.  o.e

Oy.  Back to my original subject, the casting for The Hunger Games.  Now the intelligence shall begin to filter through, I promise.

Our first star is Josh Hutcherson, and he has quite the impressive record for his age; certainly, he has the longest movie career of our three stars.  His notable appearances on the Silver Screen started in 2005, three and four years, respectively, before co-stars Jennifer and Liam.  Some of his roles, in no particular order, are:

• Jess in Bridge to Terabithia, 2007
• Sean in Journey to the Center of the Earth, 2008
• Walter in Zathura:  A Space Adventure, 2005 alongside Kristin Stewart (interesting)
• Carl in RV, 2006, alongside Robin Williams
• Bucky in Kicking & Screaming, 2005
• Laser in The Kids Are All Right, 2010
• and the voice of Markl in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle, 2004, which also featured the voice of Christian Bale as Howl (I must say, I gained a lot of enthusiasm for this kid after I discovered this).

Little Joshie here is now the face of Peeta Mellark.  (So, for those of you who have seen Zathura, does this mean that Bella is Peeta's older sister?  What?!  /shot)

The lovely Jennifer Lawrence busted onto the big screen a year before co-star Liam; before, she played Lauren on The Bill Engvall Show and guest-starred in episodes for a couple of other TV shows.  Since her "big break" as Agnes in The Poker House, 2008, she has become known for her compelling role as Ree in Winter's Bone, 2010, and as the sultry Raven (Mystique) in X-Men:  First Class, 2011.  In what is *obviously* her biggest role yet, she has become our heroine, Katniss Everdeen.

Lastly, we have Liam Hemsworth.  After guest-starring in episodes for about three or four TV shows, he hit the big screen in 2009 with two roles, Spencer in The Knowing, a movie about the apocalypse, and Victor in Triangle.  Since then, his only other claim to fame has been Will in--gag-- The Last Song, 2010.  Not to judge movies by their posters, but based on the posters for those three movies, The Last Song was a pretty big switch for Mr. Morbid.  In keeping with the general "doom-n-gloom" theme of his roles, he has been chosen to play Gale Hawthorne.

With those three addressed, I can now lapse into some concerns I have.  When I set out to write this post, my first impression of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta was "you've got to be kidding me."  But as with most of the posts I write that are meant to have any sort of real-world substance, I did my research.  I was surprised to find myself remembering all the movies Josh actually appeared in.  And he's a good actor with, as I've said before, an impressive roster of titles for someone his age.  He's appeared in movies with a number of well-known stars and held his own.  My only concern (besides the fact that I always pictured Peeta as a blonde and cannot imagine Josh as one) is the fact that Peeta is a romantic.  Personally, I've never seen Josh in any endearing relationship scenes (unless you count the brother scenes in Zathura, and that is a completely different kind of relationship *coughlearnthatHaleycough*).  But his poster once decorated a piece of my wall in the times when I lived for "teen" magazine pull-outs, so he's got a place in my heart.  We'll see how he does.

The name Jennifer Lawrence was remotely familiar to me when I started writing this, and by now I recall her fascinating work with the character Ree in Winter's Bone, a movie that gleaned four nominations for at the 2011 Academy Awards, including for Best Picture.  Impressively, Jennifer Lawrence was also nominated for Best Actress.  For those of you who haven't seen the movie, Ree is (in short) a tough girl who has learned how to take care of herself under difficult circumstances she voluntarily puts herself in for the sake of her family.  Sound familiar?  It should if you've read The Hunger Games.  This chick gets my vote for Katniss. 

At the beginning of my little endeavor here, the name "Liam Hemsworth" was completely foreign to me.  It makes sense--the kid's only been in three major movies since 2009, none of which I've seen (although now I do recall seeing him in the trailer for The Knowing).  Since I haven't seen his movies and I don't really know much about the guy, I withhold judgement until the trailers start coming out.  However, his past movie experience, though slim, creates a "rough-n-tumble-with-a-bit-of-romance" profile, which in my opinion makes him nicely qualified for the role of Gale Hawthorne.

That's all I have for you today, guys.  An hour and fifteen minutes after I started, I'm finished, and I'll no doubt have more to say before I scuttle off to camp on the first of July.

Peace,

~Cara

Attempting to Stay Calm....

...with only moderate success.  At least the spazz hasn't overflowed yet (and wow I just tried to spell "overflowed" with two Ws).  The reason?  

This time, it's serious.

As some of you may know, movies for both The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments series are underway (and possibly the Vampire Academy series as well, but seeing as how I STILL haven't finished Last Sacrifice, I won't research that right now.  I don't think I could handle it).  My current twitchiness (that is too a word, dang SpellCheck) results from developments regarding the adaptation of City of Bones, the first book in The Mortal Instruments series.

If you're Caroline or Daria, then I know you've seen Camelot, a new show on STARZ whose first season wraps up next week.  And because of that, you've seen the actor Jamie Campbell Bower (JCB).  His previous records include Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (which I have yet to see) and a role in Camelot I will wait to unveil for dramatic effect.  Also, if you've been keeping up with news regarding the Twilight Saga, you know that the role of Caius has been recast for The Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn Part I.  JCB has been cast for this role.

Caroline and Daria, since I know you two haven't read The Mortal Instruments series, this little ramble won't mean peanuts to you, and I begrudge you for that.  (You really should read them.  They're effing amazing.  Not that I have any room to talk, seeing as how I'm sort of taking my sweet time rereading the first three so I can do City of Fallen Angels some justice.  The poor book has been glaring at me from my bookshelf for several weeks now, and it kills me but, alas, I must go on.)  But anyway, the three of us commented on King Arthur's general rat-like appearance (though I said he looks more like a mouse, and only in some shots).  The actor who plays King Arthur is none other than JCB.

And he has been cast for none other than the role of Jace.

Also--some time back, evidently--the actress Lily Collins, whose track record includes the character Collins in The Blind Side; Lucy Pace in Priest, which came out last week; co-starring as Karen opposite Taylor Lautner in Abduction, which is in its post-production stages and is slated for release later this year; Snow White in The Brothers Grimm:  Snow White, which is in its pre-production stages and is scheduled to come out in 2012, as is the final movie I will mention here:  the role of Clarissa Fray in the movie adaptation of City of Bones.  (Run-on sentences for the win.)  A brief article on these two casting choices can be found at http://www.movieline.com/2011/05/jamie-campbell-bower-cast-opposite-lily-collins-in-the-mortal-instruments.php as well as http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/05/31/jamie-campbell-bower-jace-wayland-mortal-instruments/ .

I'll admit, these two are an odd pair when put alongside my mental images of Jace and Clary.  However, Cassandra had this to say on her LiveJournal blog (which you can find at http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/ ) :

So, as it says in big letters on my website, I don't choose the actors for the movie. There's quite an incredible process of auditioning, and then auditioning for the director, and then finally auditioning with your co-star (in this case, Lily Collins). Screen Gems auditioned an enormous number of people for this part, known and unknown. I first heard about Jamie when I heard from the producers that he had done an amazing read for the director. I don't know how on their radar he had been before, but I know that was enough to have him brought back to test with Lily. And that was the audition they sent me to watch.

Which I replied to with, I believe, the one word unfuckingbelievable. (Sorry for the swearing.)

He was Jace, down to the snark, and the vulnerability, and the humor and the romantic side. (You'll be happy to know one of the scenes in the audition was the "greenhouse scene", and the chemistry between Jamie and Lily was intense.) So then after that I just sat around and hoped they picked him. There were other actors in the mix (names I think you largely wouldn't recognize, at least not in a discussion of the casting for this film) [Cara here; one of these names included Alex Pettyfer, known for playing Number Four in I Am Number Four, as mentioned in the Movie|Line article I linked above.] and I wanted Jamie but — beyond saying I liked him, I knew I was the smallest cog in a big machine. For casting a lead role like this, all the producers (there are like eight, nine of them), the financial guys, the head of the studio, all have to agree that this guy is the best.

And they did.

So, if Cassie was that blown away by him, and by Lily, then hey, who am I to say anything?  I trust her judgment; she's the creator of Jace and Clary, and I'm just an interpreter.  If she says JCB is Jace, then hell, he's Jace!  I've seen a lot of bashing going on around the interwebs, and it's kind of startling.  I think JCB does a fine job as King Arthur--sometimes he's a bit of a ditz, or not very compelling, but he's no Kristin Stewart.  He has real personality with his characters, as Cassandra raved about.  So I'm withholding judgment until the trailers come out.  If you're worried about JCB not looking like Jace more than you are him not acting like Jace, well, Cassandra also had something to say about that (again, a quote from her LiveJournal) :

They'll cut his hair, they'll work him out, they'll give him contacts — if you can't imagine how that's going to look, then just think of other movie transformations you've seen in your life. And Jamie is already a tall, blond, hot guy, so he doesn't have that far a road to travel.

So let's everyone take a deep breath and hold off on the rage-rants, shall we? 

For more on Cassandra's reaction and views, or for general movie news that's sure to come, keep an eye on Cassie's LiveJournal, which, again, can be found at http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/.  Also, check out her interview with Hollywood Crush at http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/06/01/cassie-clare-on-jamie-campbell-bower-mortal-instruments/.

No doubt I'll be back eventually with more rant-news regarding The Mortal Instruments movies, The Hunger Games movies and The Vampire Academy movies, as well as various and sundry other items.  Keep flying, and don't forget to be awesome,

~Cara

An Update and Quotes from the Always-Epic *City of Bones*!

Hello all!  Yet again I have been terribly lax in my posting.  I apologize but will make no more promises about posting because I obviously can't keep them. >.<

This year has gone by so quickly.  Already I only have a couple weeks of school left--literally a couple, as in two.  The dreaded End-of-Course Tests that are native to Georgia (also known as EOCTs), as well as finals, started today, and are relatively spread out over these next couple weeks.  Naturally, the teachers choose these last couple weeks to give us five PowerPoints to do (four in the case of my Spanish II class; seriously, four PowerPoints; and one in my Intro to Theatre class), as well as a literary analysis paper on Romeo & Juliet.  (Am I the only one who has become grudgingly accustomed to the fact that even when we finish reading something in Lit, we're far from done with it?)

Well, enough prelude.  I begin writing this post at around 4:20pm on Monday; who knows when I'll actually post the thing.  We'll see.  But now, the quotes shall begin!

"'Meanwhile,' Simon added, 'I wanted to tell you that lately I've been cross-dressing.  Also, I'm sleeping with your mom.  I thought you should know.'  ........ 'Simon!' Clary shouted, and seized his arm.  'What?'  Simon looked alarmed.  'I'm not really sleeping with your mom, you know.  I was just trying to get your attention.  Not that your mom isn't a very attractive woman, for her age.'"  ~Chapter 1

"The dark prince sat astride his black steed, his sable cape flowing behind him.  A golden circlet bound his blond locks, his handsome face was cold with the rage of battle, and...  'And his arm looked like an eggplant,' Clary muttered to herself in exasperation.  The drawing just wasn't working."  ~Chapter 2

"Jocelyn even had a graceful way of walking that made people turn their heads to watch her go by.  Clary, by contrast, was always tripping over her feet.  The only time people turned to watch her go by was when she hurtled past them as she fell downstairs."  ~Chapter 2

"The door flew open.  Jocelyn gave a little scream.  'Jesus!' Luke exclaimed.  'Actually, it's just me,' said Simon.  'Although I've been told the resemblance is startling.'"  ~Chapter 2

"'Who cares if you have a girlfriend, anyway?'  'I care,' Simon said gloomily.  'Pretty soon the only people left without a girlfriend will be me and Wendell the school janitor.  And he smells like Windex.'  'At least you know he's still available.'"  ~Chapter 2

"'All right.  I'm Eric, and this is my homeboy Matt on the drums.  My first poem is called Untitled.'  He screwed up his face as if in pain, and wailed into the mike.  'Come, my faux juggernaut, my nefarious loins!  Slather every protuberance with arid zeal!'  Simon slid down in his seat.  'Please don't tell anyone I know him.'  Clary giggled.  'Who uses the word loins?'  'Eric,' Simon said grimly.  'All his poems have loins in them.'  'Turgid is my torment!' Eric wailed.  'Agony swells within!'  'You bet it does,' Clary said."  ~Chapter 3

4:49 and that's all I have time for right now, folks.  Stay tuned for more quotes, hopefully coming soon!

~Cara

Songs, Tsunamis, and Pizza

Hey, guys!  Figured I'd grace you (all two of you) with an update. 

Whee.

Honestly, though. Some general stuff has been going on with school and whatnot.  Have to sing a musical theater song with accompaniment only in drama class tomorrow.  I'm going to do a version of "On My Own" from Les Misérables.  Great show, by the way, or so I hear (I've never actually seen it, but the music is pretty cool).

In other news, the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis/blizzard in the north.  God, they just can't catch a break, can they?  Please send prayers and positive thoughts their way, guys, because they'll need all they can get. 

SO.  PIZZA.  Publix's GreenWise Pizza is GOOD STUFF, man.  I'm nomming some margherita pizza right now (that's tomato, basil and mozzarella for those of you not familiar with such).  SO GOOD.  <3  Also a necessary food item to have in the house:  Golden Grahams cereal.  I snack on it all the time.  Pop-Tarts, fresh fruit, and Kashi Granola or Fruit and Nut bars are also GREAT.  They come highly recommended.  ^^

As for my free time, I'm a manga scanlation editor for the group Shoujo Crusade.  Google us; we have a Wordpress and a .net forum.  I'm currently working on Hai ni Naru Made (Until You Turn to Ash) and Kurenai Kuraki (Crimson...something).  It's a lot of fun, and GIMPShop helps tons.  I lub it.  Even though it can't stroke letters and tends to go "OH SRRY WE NEEDS TA CLOSE NOW KTHXBAI" without letting me save first...BUT it's free.  And pretty dang good.  So I'm not complaining (much). ^^''  I'm also editing my best friend's novel-in-progress.  I won't disclose much of anything on here, but it's about 322 pages and I'm hoping to finish editing this draft--the fifth or so, I believe--by the end of March.  It's a great story in the high fantasy genre of fiction.  No dragons or otherwise mythical creatures, thank you very much.  Anyway, that said, I have those things to do, a song to practice, and trigish homework.

DFTBA, guys.

~Cara

P.S.  You might have noticed I made some serious revisions to my blog's layout!  Belated New Year's changes, mind you, but it's still me.  No worries.  ^^

YouTube's World Suck

Hey, guys!  Okay, so I'm here to rant about YouTube's unique degree of SUCK.  It just makes me so mad that not only can we not change our YouTube usernames, but we can't transfer favorites and subscribers and friends and whatnot from one account to another!  I've been on YouTube for years so I've naturally accumulated a lot of these--okay, not really subscribers, but definitely favorites and video playlists and friends and it just really irks me.

YouTube!  You need to fix this!!!

DFTBA

~Cara

Nerdfighteria

I am a Nerdfighter.  I'm just going to say that and let our heroes, Hank and John, do the talking:

 Nerdfighter FAQ:


50 Jokes in Four Minutes:


Don't Forget To Be Awesome:


Also, here's their YouTube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers

And their Ning site, which anyone can join:  http://nerdfighters.ning.com/

Oh, and don't forget to play Sheen vs.  Gaddafi!


DFTBA!!


Visit Nerdfighters


~Cara

So much for that...

Augh, stupid school.  Keeping me from updating this.

Not like anyone reads it... but still. xD

I have so much to do lately.  I've coasted the entire semester and suddenly every teacher is throwing out projects and papers like confetti on New Year's.  It's ridiculous.  *sigh*

Speaking of projects, I have a Spanish one to finish.  I know this isn't much, but... yeah... >.>

~Nixi

Chicken Smoothie

Pet's name: Corey
Adopt virtual pets at Chicken Smoothie!

I Hate Idiots...

Okay.  So for Christmas my parents got me these yoga-like pants.  I call them Kyoga pants because they have "I <3 Kyo" on the butt and his angry cat face on the front (Kyo is a character from the shojo manga Fruits Basket, by Natsuki Takaya-sama).  They were HUGE--an extra large, which is like a women's 14-16.  So we sent them back for a free exchange.  I explicitly marked either a small or a medium exchange--I forget which one I marked, but I know I marked it EX-PLI-CIT-LY.  We send it off with high hopes.

Today, my exchange pants finally came in the mail!  I just got home from school, and I pulled them out and went upstairs to try them on.  They looked a little iffy, but I had high hopes yet again.  (I've been waiting for over a month, after all.)  I try them on and whoa--they're still huge!  Annoyed, I check the order form for this order:  an extra large.  How they misread their own forms, I don't know.  All I know is we have to send these back and pay more postage to correct a mistake that should be corrected by now.

Like I said, I really hate idiots.

~Cara

All Quiet on the Western Front...

Hey, guys.  Nothing new to report.  I went to a Sadie Hawkins Dance on Friday, which was a lot of fun.  I went with a guy I hadn't seen in four years, but inadvertently ran into at Costco!  Go figure, right?

Well, I finished my math homework, and I was bored, so I decided to retake the Personal DNA personality quiz.  If you're into personality quizzes, are bored, or want to know more about yourself, I can almost guarantee that this is the best, most in-depth, creative, and informative personality test out there--and it's completely free, no strings attached.  Check it out at http://www.personaldna.com/

Here are my most recent results.  Mouse over each colored band or square to see what it means:

~Cara

I Just Had a Revelation

Hey, guys.  Happy New Year!  A little late, I know.  It's literally been months since I posted anything of actual merit.  But hey, I'll try to make these more regular for the two and a half people that are actually reading what I write.  Nonetheless, cheers to you.

Anyway, the revelation is this:  just a simple post--a paragraph or two, a quirky thing that happened to you today, a list that pops into your head--all of these are acceptable, especially if you're in a typing mood.  That said, I think I can get this thing rolling again with just random snippets of my life.  Not that you guys really care, but still, it makes me happy.

Cheers.

~Cara

P.S.  "Being Human" Mondays at 9/8c on SyFy.  Check it out!