Something Nutty, for once

I have recently discovered the amazing thing known as Monsterpiece Theater:




Ah, great literature in a nutshell! With "nut" being the operative word.

A Different Era Ends

This one being the era of total Blair It's Ac dominance. Thus concludes our runs on both trivia TV shows. Now don't get me wrong--there are still plenty of competitions left, and we're not going to just roll over and let ourselves get trod upon. Still, it would have been nice for us seniors to approach the end having successfully defended our title.

To be somewhat unrelated, it's almost over! Graduation is only a little over a month away. Holy crap!

Song of the Goehring Unit--2/16/10

Well, shoot, I missed 2/14! And I had a post planned out for it and all! ('Cause unlike everyone else who has given up on updating this blog, I have a supreme lack of a life.) Aaaaaaanyway, so here was the video I was planning to post:



For the day when everyone's being all lovey-dovey, this is an adorable, sweet song about a girl's devotion to her love. This is a cover of a song by John Spillane, sung by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha of Celtic Woman. Her voice is soft and mild, yet strangely powerful, quite fitting for this song.

And, since there are such a large number of great love songs out there, I'm not about to only recommend one! If you enjoyed One I Love, I recommend I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls, also sung by Méav, from the opera The Bohemian Girl. It's amazingly sweet and lovely! Or, if you're in a more philosophical mood, Orla Fallon (also of Celtic Woman) has a beautiful rendition of The Water is Wide.

Yes, I'm aware that 2/14 is also Singles Awareness Day (SAD). It was also Chinese New Year this year. So, to celebrate misfortune in love as well as being Chinese, here is a song by Theresa Teng
admonishing a faithless lover. Theresa Teng is one of the most famous Chinese singers. Ironically, her songs were banned during the Cultural Revolution for being too sappy and "not revolutionary enough," but that didn't stop people from secretly listening to them anyway. Today, try singing The Moon Represents My Heart (another pretty lovey-dovey song) and almost everyone in the general area who is Chinese will probably start from recognition. Irony, eh?

Song of the Goehring Unit--12/21/09

For the sake of having something holiday related, here's a lovely song brought to you by the amazing ladies of Celtic Woman:



Words cannot describe my awe at Celtic Woman. My only quibble with this song is that it's too short! I wish it went on for longer, it's so beautiful. Enjoy!

Song of the Goehring Unit--12/14/09

There is a quantum test tomorrow. And an It's Academic competition after school (Quizmaster Taping). Both are under the same teacher, who would probably be most displeased if I failed at either (but more so if I failed at it's ac). That being said, I will blatantly ignore that and post another song! Today I present to you Your Shadow by Lunascape. It is odd, really odd--but in a good way, at least in my opinion. If you're like me and you pay more attention to the video than to the music, though, my suggestion is that you listen to the song first without watching the video. Because the video is so weird it distracts from the interesting weirdness of the song itself.

Happy listening!

Ah, the benefits of having an older sibling

"Hamlet was a ham, and Piglet was his father. Now his uncle was evil, so he went and killed Piglet. Then Hamlet's mother, Sowlet, married Hamlet's uncle." --My sister, ~10 years ago when I asked her what Hamlet was about

This was her followup explanation, now that I'm going to be reading Hamlet next for AP Lit:
"Piglet had to die, as a preemptive strike against swine flu."

Song of the Goehring Unit--10/12/09

Never in a Million Years by Cara Dillon--This song just about sums up my relationship with a certain guy for a while.



Lyrics:
If you want me I'll be at your door
And if you need me I'll be by your side
'Cause every day is a long winding road
And I want you right here don't you know

I wonder why, I wonder why, I wonder why
I always try, I wonder why, I wonder why

Chorus:
Every time I look at you I feel the blues
Can't hide the pain inside
No one ever told me that my heart could break a hundred-thousand times
Never in a million years I thought that tears could break a heart of stone
If you need me let me know

Well, if you've got no one to give your heart to
And if you've searched and you can't find the truth
When they tell you this time to let go
Well, I'll always be here - don't you know

I wonder why, I wonder why, I wonder why

Chorus

Oh, nobody told me 'bout the wind and the trees
And the summer breeze and
You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders
And the light is slipping through
And I've seen the sun catching your eye
Like the moon in the sky

Every time I look at you I feel the blues
Can't hide the pain inside
No one ever told me that my heart could break a hundred-thousand times
And though you've never asked me to believe it's true

I've loved you from the start
Oh I've got to find a way to mend today
These wings that need to fly
No one ever told me that my heart could break a hundred-thousand times
Never in a million years I thought that tears could break a heart of stone
If you need me let me know

By the way, if you enjoyed this song, I would definitely recommend checking out some of Cara Dillon's other songs as well. Her sweet, lovely voice and the bittersweet songs make for an excellent combination. I particularly suggest Craigie Hill, There Were Roses, and Bonny Bonny.

Hmm...

Looking at the results of the poll so far, it appears that whoever said "lief is just fien, thank u vry much" also said "Ah! College apps!" Contradictory, much?

Dear Siemens and College Board:

You guys SUCK.

This message brought to you by your local Stressed out Senior

Musings

I walk outside into the cold, black air. Tonight is one of those nights where the darkness is particularly thick. The stale fluorescent light from the streetlamps and the cold light of the moon collapse in on themselves. I step into the sphere of one of the lamps, and the light floods jarringly through my eyes. It is as if I am in a dream, in a daze; I must focus hard to remind myself where to step and where to go. I am like the moth, mesmerized by a candle, about to get burned. And oddly enough, though I did not enjoy the light, once I step out I do not enjoy the dark anymore either. Where do I belong, if neither the light nor the dark is for me?

Song of the Indefinite Time Period (which we will call the Goehring Unit)--9/23/09

So, when you're a responsible teenager (pfft, as if such a thing exists) and you have a huge, huge paper due in a few days, as well as a nice essay that may (but most likely won't) help you get a mere pittance of a scholarship, as well as forms to turn in and recommendations to secure, and everything must be done on pretty much the same day, which is about a week away, and you also have way too much homework to do in between (including a project or two that count for a substantial portion of your grade in that class), what do you do? Procrastinate, of course! By writing an inconsequential blog post with an overly long title and an even longer first sentence. A sentence so huge that undoubtedly if any former English teacher of mine is reading this, she must be weeping at its poor construction.

But I digress. I present to you, the first song recommendation of the school year, and probably the only one for a while to go. Now, once again, this song is one that must be described as relaxing. And if you think I pick too many of those, what did you expect? I actually wasn't exaggerating in the first sentence. Luckily this song is like a massage for the mind; it really helps to force out stress.

And so, before I go on even more tangents, I present to you the Green Island Serenade, sung by Vienna Teng. It's in Chinese, yes, but it is a lovely song nonetheless. And personally I find Vienna Teng's version particularly lovely. Traditionally Chinese songs tend to feature female vocals with exaggeratedly sweet voices, but Vienna's gentle, soothing voice really just fits this song much better.



Lyrics:

这绿岛像一只船
在月夜里摇呀摇

姑娘哟妳也在我的
心海里飘呀飘

让我的歌声随那微风
吹开了妳的窗帘

让我的衷情随那流水
不断地向妳倾诉

椰子树的长影
掩不住我的情意

明媚的月光
更照亮了我的心

这绿岛的夜已经
这样沉静

姑娘哟妳为什么
还是默默无语

Translation:
This green island, is like a boat
meandering through the moonlight.

Darling, you are
floating in the ocean of my heart.

Let the melody of my song follow the breeze,
blowing through your curtains.

Let my love go with the flowing water,
serenading you.

The coconut tree's long shadow
cannot hide my gentle love.

The clear bright moonlight
brightens my heart.

This green island night
appears so peaceful.

Darling, why are you
still silent?

Unfortunately, I think the English translation doesn't quite do the original lyrics justice. But that's life, I guess. There's actually an interesting story behind this lovely song, but I think this post is probably long enough. If you're interested, it can be found here: (link)

Until next time, then, dears!

Mid-summer update

We return after a hiatus of close to two months to announce that we are all still alive and well; well, alive, anyway. A crapload of important work, though, has unfortunately rendered us too lazy to post. Perhaps when school starts we will feel more motivated to procrastinate on our homework by posting again.

Twitter, superfluous?

Who needs twitter when there's gtalk? It just occurs to me that my gtalk stati are generally broken into short 140 character or less chunks that describe what I am doing right now.

Make Every Day a Tuesday! It's Ac Fact--June 2, 2009

Today's It's Academic fact can be more science-y, since science bowl tryouts were today as well. And they stole our fourth A-team member. Not good. So, today's fact: The first nuclear powered submarine was named the Nautilus, named after the marine cephalopod. It was commisioned in 1952 and was launched in 1954. The one who supervised the construction was Admiral Rickover. Nautilus is the official state ship of Connecticut and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.

Song--May 29,2009

Yargh. Stressful time. So many projects still to do and worry about before school is out. So many petty dramas making me feel tired and old. This song is how I unwind:



Anna Rose by Vienna Teng just may be one of the most soothing songs I've ever heard. In any case, whenever I'm particularly stressed, this is the one I put on. Vienna's voice is perfect for this song, and the lyrics are adorable. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the song.

I've Been Getting Lazy...

Yeah, so I haven't been posting music features or It's Academic facts after I got back. I think I'll make the music a weekly/monthly thing instead of daily so I don't run out of songs too quickly. And there's that huge mound of homework staring at me angrily for procrastinating... *shifty eyes* As for the It's Academic facts, Eliz and I will work something out.

Set These Birds Free

Red-tailed Hawks should not be allowed to be kept in a shack that serves as a poor excuse of an aviary, in a small cage where they can barely fly for a few feet and their perch is situated such that they can barely even stand up straight.

Allow me to explain. Over Memorial Day weekend I went up to Garrett County. I went to Deep Creek Lake state park. We walked around for a bit. Then I saw a sign that said "Aviary." Now, as anyone who has been around me for about a day has no doubt picked up, I really, really like birds. So of course I ran towards that sign to see what that aviary was like. Lo and behold...we saw a tiny, rude hut. Extending from it were two tiny enclosements for holding birds, much like the ones you see at a zoo's bird house except much, much smaller. And within one of them, barely moving, stood not one but two hawks, standing in their miserable dwelling as if in a torpor. The fenced walls were littered with bits of fluff and down, as if the birds had thrown themselves against the walls in repeated, futile efforts to escape.

How can any animal, let alone ones as majestic as the hawks, be kept in such horrid conditions? In a state park, no less? Hawks deserve to be free. If this isn't animal cruelty, then I don't know what is.

(Note: I took pictures. They may be added, if I can figure out how to get them off my phone.)

It's Academic Fact--May 22, 2009

Elizabeth is out for the weekend, so I'm doing today's fact as well. She requested that it be about a platypus or a cricket. So, I'm going to see if I can make it about both!

....

Okay, this phails with a ph. Fact of the day: Platypuses are born with spurs on their ankles, but only the males keep them can produce poison. Crickets....do not. There. Both incorporated!

May 21, 2009--No Song Today

Too tired, and there's a genetics exam tomorrow. Sorry.

It's Academic Fact--May 21, 2009

If there's a biology choice question, chances are the answer is either grasshopper or earthworm.