Scarlett Fever

So do you guys remember Scarlett and Spencer from Maureen Johnson's SUITE SCARLETT? I blogged about them/it a while ago. No shame in not remembering, although Spencer is possibly one of my favorite fictional characters ever.

Anyway, I have just finished reading the sequel, SCARLETT FEVER. And oh my goodness. Ohhmygoodness. Can I just say that I would absolutely love to have the third book, like, right now?

The cast of SUITE SCARLETT is back in another hilarious and sweet and just adorable book, now with the addition of 15-year-old Broadway star Chelsea Biggs and her apparently good-for-nothing brother Max. So, of course, Mrs. Amberson wants Scarlett to spy on befriend the Biggs children. Meanwhile, Scarlett can't get Eric out of her head, and Spencer has landed a role on Scarlett's favorite TV show, Crime and Punishment. I don't know that I can say much more than that without providing spoilers for either book (I don't want to tell you how the first one ends, if you haven't read it yet *cough*KD,CJ,SH*cough*). But eeek. It was absolutely wonderful and fantastic, and you should absolutely read it. After you read the first one, of course.

And because I need to vent somewhere about what I hope/predict for the third book, there will be a spoiler below. For goodness' sake, don't highlight it and read it if you haven't read the first one yet. Please.

--> So if Scarlett doesn't get together with Max, I am going to be seriously furious. Because Eric is a jerk. He and Chelsea should get together, and Scarlett just needs to end up with Max. Also, I'm betting that Chip is going to be furious once he finds out about Lola signing the post-nup. And Spencer...Spencer's going to get a good role in something or other. He's being kind of moody, though. Hopefully the David Frieze role doesn't permanently ruin his good-boy physical comedy career. Ack I REALLY want the next book NOW. <--

And with that, I leave you, so that I can watch LOST catch up on my APUSH homework and then watch LOST. As Tigger says, TTFN!

Love,
Bex

For the Amusement of the LOST Fans...

Season 3. I'm currently about 12 minutes into Episode 17, "Catch-22." For the amusement of the LOST fans among us (*cough*CH, this means you*cough*), I have a brief summary of recent events:

Ben: omg wheelchair. uh-oh. bad.
Kate: JACK!
Jack: go away.
Locke: Ben's in a wheelchair I'm not ha ha!
Ben: don't blow up that submarine.
submarine: *boom*
Locke: okay, I blew it up!
Ben: good boy.
Sawyer: you tricked me into being NICE?! laaame.
Hurley: didn't you like it?
Claire: *sick*
Locke's father: *appears*
Others + Locke: *vanish*
Kate: um, why am I handcuffed to you?
Juliet: because they left me. *haha I'm lying!*
Jack: JULIET IS ONE OF US.
Sawyer/Sayid: liar.
Juliet: Jack loves you.
Kate: liar.
Charlie: uhh....help Claire now. kthnx.
Juliet: I can save her.
Sawyer/Sayid: liar.
Juliet: I know everything about you. Let me go.
Claire: *better*
Jack: I trust Juliet.
Juliet: *you shouldn't trust me*
Jack: Oh, Juliet!
Juliet: Oh, Jack!
Kate: Sawyer...
Sawyer: Kate...
*intense hug*
Desmond: HELP THE FUTURE HAPPEN.
Hurley: Desmond is my friend!
Jack: ...k.

So, CH, still think I should write for LOST in 8:15?

This show is quite fun. I can't watch for too long, though, or Chelsey and Indi will get mad at me...but if I don't watch enough, ES will get quite annoyed at my lack of awareness of NCIS. *sigh* TV is so soul-sucking, and schizophrenia being a writer creates so many Murder Threats from Fictional Characters...

Of course I'm normal. Of course I'm not sleep-deprived even though it's Saturday.

Gonna go finish this episode now. Love,
Bex

Insert Title of Your Choice Here

Hello, internetfolks. I'm blogging mostly out of habit, not because anything particularly exciting happened today, but I do have a few quick things to say.

1. I have a headache. Headaches suck. Rawr.

2. Have you ever seen the old TV show Hogan's Heroes? Because my dad got the DVDs of the first two seasons, and we just watched several episodes, and it's quite an entertaining show. It's set in a German POW camp during WWII, and the staff is generally incompetent and the prisoners get up to all sorts of sabotage and suchlike, and it's just a generally hilarious show. Definitely check it out.

3. I have discovered the downside of creative writing class. When you already have two protagonists competing for your attention, the LAST thing you need is an assignment for a short story with a different protagonist and an atypical narrative style. Chelsey and Indi just might eat me if I throw somebody else in there. Even if it is just for a short period of time.

4. Have I mentioned that headaches (and colds) are no fun? Because they're really not.

5. I like lists that have nice round numbers, like multiples of five and ten. Threes are okay...fours, though, that wasn't cool. So. List Item Number Five. Yay.

And now, sleep. "Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow/That I shall say farewell til it be morrow." Farewell, interwebs!
~Bex

Writers Are Weird

I shall begin this post with the random observation that this is the 50th post on The Word Nerd. If you find this exciting, then...yay! Excitement! If not...okay, that's cool too. It was just an observation. Some of us are easily amused.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I wanted to share with you another snippet of writer conversation, this time between my crazy writer friend KD and myself.

BT: ahhhh I wanna write my storyyyy. Stupid thesis.

KD: *patpat*

BT: do you think Mrs. B would accept "Chelsey and Indi were holding me at gunpoint and forcing me to write" as an excuse for not doing my thesis homework?

KD: welllll....since producing Chelsey and Indi on this material plane of existence to corroborate your claim might be a bit tricky, I think not.

BT: especially since they wouldn't do that. Chelsey still has a thing about guns. And I don't think guns exist in Indi's world. So...knifepoint then. No, Chelsey wouldn't like that either....Indi might threaten me with a knife, though.

KD: *pat* honey....

BT: I'M NOT SCHIZOPHRENIC! I SWEAR!

KD: they are going to have to understand that thesis is important. ♥

Again, before you write me off as a crazy person, you must understand that I am aware that the characters who live inside my head are fictional, therefore I am not schizophrenic. Just so you know.

But I really would much rather find out what's up with Indi and get Chelsey to Columbia than write a notecard about this thesis source. Even if this book is completely amazing.

Must go. Much love,
Bex

Luke, I Am Your Father

Well, okay. So the sketchy "I'm your father" conversation that I watched today was not from Star Wars. I haven't watched any of the Star Wars films in ages (Episodes IV, V, and VI are the best, though, hands down; the newer ones are awful). I did go off in search of a lightsaber for HB to use in her English project on Friday, but that's totally unrelated.

What IS related is that I've been watching LOST again. Finally had the time to sit down and watch two more episodes. I think I'm officially more than halfway through Season 3 now...maybe I'll even catch up by the season finale. Who knows? Anyway, there was an "I am your father" conversation on LOST earlier. And I must say, I am quite surprised. (Read: CH, if you are reading this, get on messenger and message me. Ohmygoodness.) in case you missed it, "quite surprised" was a bit of an understatement.

I've also started a new story. Chelsey is going to be furious. I haven't been spending enough time with her lately as it is. Now that Indi is competing for my attention...

Sigh. Two protagonists, one written in first person present tense and one in third person past tense, one a spy and one...um...well, definitely not a spy. This could get interesting.

I'll just have to hope my brain doesn't go kaboom.

Before you write me off as a lunatic, please consider the following quote:

"Writing is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."

Yes, there are fictional people living inside my head. But I bet the same thing happens to J.K. Rowling, and Harry Potter is possibly the best book series ever. (I mean...umm...me, a PotterNerd? >_> *whistles innocently*)

I should probably go do some homework now. Or watch more LOST. Or perhaps write, before Chelsey and Indi team up and attack my brain cells. Meanwhile, you should go listen to "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Disney's Mulan. Because it's one of my favorite Disney songs, and it's stuck in my head.

Until next time, internetfolks!
~Bex

Attack of the Social Networking Sites

First there was Myspace. Everybody and his or her figurative family member or pet was on Myspace. Except me. I was never on Myspace. I realize I'm not the only exception - there are others out there, among them many of my dear friends - but I figure I'm entitled to a little bit of literary license. So, the point: Myspace. Huge social networking site.

Then there was Facebook. Yes, I'm on Facebook. No, you may not send me a friend request if you do not know me in real life. But Facebook is starting to get overrun by all sorts of crazy applications and "Become a Fan" pages. Seriously, I cannot open Facebook without having my news feed full of "So and So became a fan of X Product! So and So became a fan of Y TV Show! So and So became a fan of Z Random Daily Activity! So and So became a fan of Becoming a Fan of X, Y, and/or Z!" It's quite obnoxious.

And Facebook is still big. But slowly, Twitter got even bigger. I am not on Twitter, either, but lots and lots of people are. Because apparently the world has nothing better to do with its time than inform the rest of the world what it's up to, 160 characters at a time.

And now - now there's a new website called Formspring. Basically, anyone who happens to stumble across your page can submit a question, anonymous or otherwise, and you can choose to answer it or not. After seeing at least five or six of my Facebook friends post "Formspring me!" I caved and joined a second social networking site. I like to think this one doesn't completely count, because you don't become "friends" with anyone and most interaction is anonymous. But I will confess, I'm mostly just kidding myself.

So, my Formspring username is wordnerd213 if you wish to ask me questions. Believe it or not, this is okay with me. I know there are people out there who would frown on my sharing of my username (it's not like it's my password) on an unprotected website, but it's not like you can use it to stalk me.

Anyway, I should go. I have one more page of thesis lit review to write, plus a page of dialogue and typing practice short story extension for creative writing, and it's already after 10:30. Hasta luego, internetfolks!

~Bex

Shiver

So, I was kinda musing about random stuff earlier (I tend to do that sometimes), and I realized something.

I blog about books as I read them. Which means my favorites that I've already read do not receive the special blog attention that they probably deserve. I have therefore made a decision. On days when I do not have anything interesting to blog about, I will tell you about a book that I have already read and loved.

Today, it is Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER. How did I pick SHIVER to write about today, you ask? Well, it's because NG just got inducted to the unofficial SHIVER fan club and my dear CJ just finished reading the sequel, LINGER. But wait! you may say. LINGER isn't due out in stores until July! Gonna brag for a minute here: I got an ARC. And I got to meet Maggie, back in November. *cue LOTS of excitement* It was truly fantastic. Anyway, CJ borrowed this ARC and left me a Facebook wall post along the lines of:

"AHHH!!!! he...but...she...but...they...he can't! and she's...but they...and...ahhhh want the next one NOWWW!!!"

Which actually made sense to me. Because I've read it too.

Anyway, SHIVER (the first in what I believe is going to be a trilogy) is an absolutely amazing paranormal romance. (Yes another one. Get over it.) It is very possibly one of the elite books that I class among my favorites, although I know several people have drawn many, many parallels to TWILIGHT.

Don't worry though, there are no sparkly creeper vampires. Just werewolves.

Sam, in fact, is a werewolf. Not a traditional full-moon werewolf; no, he's a wolf when it's cold and a boy when it's warm. He has absolutely no say in his transformations. In the winter, Grace watches the wolves from her house, and there is one wolf that she calls "hers." Little does she know, this wolf is Sam, who is a human during the summer months. One summer, he finally gets up the courage to talk to her - and then an injury mysteriously leaves him human in the cold, and then they have to fight to keep him that way.

My summary there cannot even BEGIN to do the book justice. I am not kidding, go find this book and read it. It has a beautiful cover. It looks like this:

So, if you see this lovely cover on a bookshelf store, pick it up! The story is incredible and the characters are unbelievably believable (contradictory descriptions, 1; logic, 0). Grace and Sam are just such wonderful characters, and the others too. And Sam has made the list of Amazing Fictional Guys (I promised more on that a while back, and you'll get it. You will. Promise). It's just such a fantastic story. I know I haven't described it nearly compellingly enough, but you should definitely read it. I love love love love love this book.

The sequel, LINGER, is due out in July, like I said; the third book is currently titled FOREVER. You can find out more at Maggie's website and blog. (The link to her blog is also in the sidebar to your right; I follow it. It's quite interesting even if you haven't read her books.)

I'm gonna shut up now, because this post is getting lengthy and I have Spanish homework to do. The moral of this story: Read SHIVER if you get the chance. I loved it, and I hope you will too.

Love,
Bex