On...Reading?

Hello darlings! Sorry I missed yesterday to post. I seem to be doing that frequently this week. I don't know what the deal is with that except that I appear to be in some inexplicable funk that makes me feel sad and unwilling to post.

Yesterday, I finished reading Kieli, a manga about a girl who can see ghosts (which was surprisingly good). I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, you should go to mangafox.com right now and find it. Do not be dissuaded by the first chapter. The first chapter sucks. But the rest is quite good.

I then asked for suggestions for new reading material and got a suggestion for "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. I actually really enjoyed it. A plain-text version of the short story can be found here. I thought it was good, albeit depressing, because it's about a utopian world that can only be maintained by a sick and twisted practice. It came highly recommended as a friend's favorite short story of all time, and while I don't necessarily rate it that highly, I think it's a very decent read which you should check out.

Please keep reading,
Rachel Leigh

On...They Might Be Giants??

"When you're following an angel, does that mean you have to throw your body off a building? Somewhere they're sitting on a pinhead, calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things."

I'm currently listening to "She's An Angel" by They Might Be Giants. I really used to hate TMBG, but I they've definitely grown on me. I think their songs pretty much take the cake for the most varied between brilliance and complete nonsense.

I mean, Particle Man is just plain ridiculous. There's a character named Triangle Man. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is...well, kind of stupid, honestly. "Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople." Well yes. That is completely accurate. And obvious. And fairly undeserving of a song. Birdhouse In Your Soul is one of my favorite songs, and yet it's about a nightlight. Was it written by a five-year-old? And I feel like even lines in "She's An Angel," "Ana Ng," and more are just plain ridiculous. But then there are the really brilliant lines that make me love these songs.

Like the line at the top of this post. And "I don't want the world; I just want your half," in Ana Ng.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I feel like I should hate TMBG. So much of their music is simplistic, childish, and inane. But I DON'T hate TMBG. I kind of love them.

Not to put too fine a point on it, say I'm the only bee in your bonnet,
Rachel Leigh

On Television and Computers

Let us take a moment and mourn the loss of my "t" key on my laptop. Luckily, I have a spare peripheral keyboard in my room for just such emergencies. It is not quite as portable, but you live with what you've got, eh?

Anyway, I'd like to use this post to make a plug for one of my favorite TV shows. I am a huge fan of the Big Bang Theory. It takes a certain kind of person to really appreciate the lunatics in that cast, but I watch it and I really can't stop laughing.

Today's episode was hilarious. Sheldon Cooper, a socially-stagnant physics genius with the emotional maturity of a five-year-old, got stuck trying to figure out why electrons behave as if they have no mass. His resulting attempts to work through his mental block were rather comical, including a scene in which he decided to break into the local Chuck E. Cheese-type establishment and to use the balls in the ball pit to model carbon atoms.

I think it's actually pretty sad how many people I know who actually behave that way in many respects. I mean, clearly, no one I know is quite that emotionally stunted, but I know quite a few people who come close.

Explore your inner genius,
Rachel Leigh