Quote of the Week #70

Men plan, God laughs.

Yiddish proverb

Keeping the Apostrophe

So will this blog last if SOPA gets through?

Or ACTA?

Tomorrow at midday, Ireland and the UK will be signing a bill called ACTA in Tokyo. It's basically like SOPA, but even worse. Like everyone else on the internet, especially those my age, I'm freaking out. I usually download all my music from iTunes (yes, with money and everything) but, regarding here, I'm not really sure what is copyright and what isn't. What if I've accidentally done something on Apostrophe and I didn't know? And then all of a sudden, it's gone? The whole blog?

That would be really annoying.

I've signed all the petitions! At the bottom of this blog, it says 'Copyright 2009 - 2012 Eleanor Roscuro (unless otherwise stated). All rights reserved.' Maybe that's illegal! I have no idea! OK, so maybe as a person on the internet, I should be more savvy about these things, but it was always so hard to believe I was doing anything wrong. I'm so small. And I've been running this blog for more than two years.

I don't know. And this will affect the rest of the European Union too, it's their bill.

Eeek.

Eleanor Roscuro

P.S. I'M FREAKING OUT YOU GUYS

Apostrophe Mix - January 2012

Hello everyone!

New music thing - the Apostrophe Mix! Every month, I will be making a mix of eight songs for your perusal on 8tracks! You can follow me there and listen to the mixes to your heart's content there instead of trawling through posts here. You see, I care. And there'll (you know, there will) be a page where you can listen to the mix for that month here on Apostrophe too. Great!

So, what do we have this month?

Apostrophe Mix - January 2012 from EleanorRoscuro on 8tracks.

And that's eight tracks for January. Next month, there'll probably be a lot of songs about, you know, being single.(Sniff...)

Eleanor Roscuro

Quote of the Week #69

I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.

Stephen J. Gould

Quote of the Week #68

You know I am a damned ODD animal! And as my mother often says, she never has quite yet made up her mind if it is the deil or angel that watches peculiarly over me; only that it IS one or the other, without doubt! (And for my part, I am quite indifferent which.)

Ada Lovelace

Notes To Self

• When the width of your hair finally reaches the width of your shoulders, it is time for a haircut.
• When you have read THE PERFECT PLAY OMG for the second time in two weeks, it might be time have a good long think over how it'd fit in the Barn before it's perfect.  
• When your parents ask you what your 'back-up plan' is for the future, don't stare at them blankly. Don't say 'Do you think I need one?' either.
• When you watch Stella and the sixteen year old daughter turns out to be pregnant, don't be too smug that the internet is the only place where you are cool.
• When that webcom that you like Vultures comes back, think VERY CAREFULLY before you decide whether to write a bad poem or not.
• When you're in a play that has a fandom, don't read the fanfiction. But read the books!
• Your horoscope, while a little vague, has turned out to be right for the past few months. Heed it.
• When people at school think a male friend in your locker is something more, don't say yes or no. They may not believe either answer.
• When you tell someone you'll email them, don't leave it four weeks. They don't like that.
• No one is out to get you. They don't really want to, and people aren't really that bad.
• When you find an interesting quote, keep track of it. Put them in one of those little notebooks you've got lying around.
• You have a lot of dresses. Wear them to the cinema. They deserve to be seen.
• When you've made a resolution to write a blog post every week, don't suddenly remember on Sunday evening. It's stressful, even if it forces you to be extra creative.
• A new week is starting! YOU EXCITED OR WHAT

Eleanor Roscuro

Quote of the Week #67

They’re [Slytherins] not all bad. I know I’ve said this before. I think I said it to Emerson - they are not all bad and— well, far from it, as we know, at the end— they may have a slightly more highly developed sense of preservation than other people, because— A part of the final battle that made me smile was Slughorn galloping back with Slytherins. But they’ve gone off to get reinforcements first, you know what I’m saying? So yes, they came back, they came back to fight. But I’m sure many people would say, well that’s common sense, isn’t it? Isn’t that smart, to get out, get more people and come back with them? It’s the old saying, there is no truth, there are only points of view. 

 J. K. Rowling on Slytherins.

SO THERE.

Making Resolutions Is So Uncool

...But that's never stopped me before!

Anyway. I've never seriously made resolutions before. Last year I had the Apostrophe Rules, but two days after making them I got rid of them because they were too... well, ruley. Year before that I had that dreamboard that was just an excuse for some cutting and pasting fun. But this year is going to be different!

• Get a bank account. But this is so grown-up! And yet, I really should do this.
• Read one book every month. Yes, I know twelve books in one year is extremely pathetic, but I've just joined a book club, so I have to read a book every month anyway. And that isn't the max.
• Write a letter/email to someone I admire every month. I'm terrified of this one. But I'm going to do it anyway. You never know, I might get a reply. Now, for some internet stalking.
• Go to the cinema any time I want. Yes, I know this is pathetic. But it is something I genuinely find quite hard to do. But not anymore!
• Finish my super-secret play. You know you have to stick something out when you've bought it a necklace that you happened to spot in Claire's one day and is somehow related to a play you're writing.
• Start researching the Art Movements of the 19th and 20th Century that are on the poster I have in my room. Because I really want to know what Bauhaus is. It's so fun to say.
• Write at least one blog post a week. Look! I'm doing it! This is my second of the week!
• Read more plays. Because, as great as books are, plays are just that easier to get into. Somehow, you can imagine things better. Or maybe this is just me. Also, I like plays.
• Go swimming. This is one of my mother's resolutions, and I thought I might join her in completing it. No harm sure.

Have you made resolutions this year, or are you into that sort of thing?

Eleanor Roscuro

Read-O-Rama - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I have a little unwritten rule. (We all have our little rules, don't we?) One of my rules is:

You always read the book before you watch the movie. Always!

Do any of you have that rule? It gets a little inconvenient at times though. I have Strumpet City, City of Ember and Breakfast at Tiffany's on DVD staring at me from the corner, but I haven't watched them because I haven't read them! Granted, it wouldn't really take that long to read them, but there's ALL THE OTHER BOOIKS. I HAVE TO READ THOSE TOO YOU KNOW. ALL THE BOOKS.

Or maybe I'm just a little too strict with myself.

Anyways.

I saw the trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, this is it -

And it looks so good! And if this was going to come out in Spring, and if I was planning on going to see it, I had to read the book then didn't I?

Well, yeah. It's a rule. An Apostrophe rule! AHAHAHAHAHA

It's about a nine year old boy called Oskar who lives in New York City. After the death of his father in the 9/11 attacks, he finds a key in a vase in his father's cupboard, and sets off on a quest to find the lock that fits the key. The book also tells the story of Oskar's paternal grandparents through letters which they each wrote to Oskar and to Oskar's father.

The book feels nice to read. I'm not just saying that. Even if you read just a few sentences, you're immediately drawn into this world of inventions and heavy boots and Nothing and Something and daybooks and letters. I think everyone wishes they knew Oskar in real life, I know I do. You can learn so much from him, even if he doesn't share interesting facts with you. (Unlikely.)

So go read the book, and then come back here and we can hope that they do Oskar's grandparents right in the film, because I swear if they mess this up I'll be really annoyed and I won't buy the DVD and then where will they be?

Eleanor Roscuro

P.S. This review of the book is much better than mine, so you can read that too if you wish - http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2011/01/extremely-loud-and-incredbily-close.html