Dear L.N.R...

A few days after this blog was created. A post about this event here - http://apostrophe-rules.blogspot.com/2010/01/ive-been-very-sad-recently.html 

At Musings' first birthday, November 2010. Forgot to get any cake.

In which I get the knack of smiling in photos. March 2011.

Insert photo of present self here.

Dear L.N.R...

This is the moniker you like to go by, isn't it? L.N.R. - Eleanor! If I've done this right, you should be reading this just as you're starting your blog, Musings of an Undiscovered Genius in November 2009. It's your birthday soon, isn't it? You're going to be fourteen. Wow.

You're probably wondering who I am, right? I'm Eleanor Roscuro. Sixteen. February 2012. I know, that seems so far away, but it came, and we're here. And I'll be eighteen next year and everything! I know! Amazing! But anyway. 

Listen. Between where you are and where I am now, things are going to change. Huge changes for us, and for the country. I can't say too much, but here's just some tips.

• Twitter's fun, isn't it? You know that American girl who's followed you for some reason, The Vintage Vixen? She has a blog too. Read it.
• When was the last time you re-read Harry Potter? When you're done, go onto that website Tumblr and search it. Also: Have a little think about Slytherins. Just because there was a really bad batch of them during Harry's years doesn't mean they're all... evil.
• Start going to more plays. Even if it looks really serious and boring. That usually means it will grip on your heart in a way you never imagined, and there's nearly always some funny bits. 
• There's this young theatre company in Kilkenny, Devious or something. When mum asks you if you want to see the play with the poster in green, pink and orange, go. For fun. Also: Just because they're so big and older than you and everything doesn't mean they're scary. Only at first.
• There's absolutely no need to be some kind of martyr. I know you want to seem professional and everything, but not being a martyr will make you more professional. Funny how that works.
• If you are unsure about telling mam (or dad) something, it is probably best not to tell them. Imagine it was your daughter.
• No one's out to get you, not anymore. If you are extremely patient, they will flock to you, but for now, be the kind of person that has loads of friends already.
• They're not bitches, they're dizzies. It's nicer.
• Keep writing. On Musings, in your diary, poems and stories, everything. Keep it all for when you're my age and even older.
• You may have heard of a man named Michael D. Higgins. He's a TD, a really arty one. He's got a few books out too, read them. Remember him.
• When people laugh at you for boycotting Penneys, don't mind them. Research sweatshops and child labour more.
• Don't seek out romantic entanglements. Let all that stuff come to you.
• I know you're secretly in love with that other youth theatre, but they don't mean to upstage you. You'll  get to know them in the end, and you won't even have to leave KYT to do it.
• I know you love Paramore, but don't let them be your favourite band. Explore. There's a whole world out there (on the internet) you still have to discover.
• There's nothing wrong with how you look. Keep experimenting with your hair colour and cut, and you're going to lose that weight. How, I have no idea, but it happens.
• You're going to love blogging. You're going to love theatre, not just acting. You're going to love Kilkenny even more than you do already. You are worthy of all the good things that have happened and are going to happen to you. 
• Be your own best friend. I know it sounds silly, but you have to enjoy yourself. I'll say it again, it's that important: BE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND. That's the secret.

I know I'm only sixteen, and I still have loads left to learn, but I feel much happier than I have since primary school. Things are going to be brillliant. 

The most love in the world,

Eleanor Roscuro

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