Now that it's actually Monday (Beijing time)...

I can finally share with you my latest love on 8tracks. This playlist is truly a precious gem of love songs, both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Amazing for sleeping, stargazing, and just sitting by the window on a rainy day and thinking.

Songs For Indie Couples, true love will find you in the end from augustrush008 on 8tracks Radio.

xx
Vanessa :]

I know it's not Monday but

I am tempted to share my latest playlist with you, so here goes. French themed, mes cheries!

Une Promenade à Champs-Élysées from ness428 on 8tracks Radio.

xx

Vanessa :]

Vacay Update

Welp...this seemed like such an awesome idea for a post until V posted all of the things that she's going to do in Europe. Don't get me wrong, I love the Midwest, but we don't really stand a chance when it comes to free champaign. But I'll try anyway.

Last weekend my foreign sister from the Netherlands came back for a visit (she was a foreign exchange student who stayed with us last fall). I will be referring to her as "the Netherlander" because of reasons.  We took her for a short weekend trip to:

(all these pictures are courtesy of the Netherlander
because i'm too lazy to take pictures....)

It was super fun (or as fun as South Dakota gets). The main reason we went was for the Wind Cave. It was super awesome but they wouldn't let us take pictures so here's the sign.

And here's some buffalo we saw on the way. I wanted to hug their fluffy little heads but they'd probably kill me that's frowned upon :( 

that car in the picture is a convertible. right after this picture
the two buffalo on the left got super friendly.
needless to say those people regretted the whole "no roof" thing. 

That night we stayed in the beautiful Hot Springs which has all these historic buildings (which neither one of us took pictures of). But there was this gorgeous waterfall:

And right across from the waterfall was the quaint little bakery that served the best strawberry french toast. We took walks around the town and ran across some gorgeous houses built right into the side of the canyon walls. Also, they don't believe in escalators...

and that was the short staircase

The next day Ellis and I took a drive through Custer State Park. We took every side road we could find. Since we're strange and we wanted you to experience riding in a car with the two of us here's a video of us: (we're sorry)

I also channeled my inner karate kid:

On the way home we drove through the badlands. If you've never been to the badlands they look like this:

I'm not really sure why people journeying across the United States decided "Hey, this looks nice. I think I'll homestead here," but they did. And good for them. But I'll be staying in the Nebraska. 

Finally, after three hours in the car we made it to the Nebraska state line.

Then we drove four more hours home. Which was awful. 

But!!! I managed to finish two books on the way home so I'll be posting those reviews soon :D

Until then, stay thirsty my friends :)

Top Ten Tuesday: top 10 things I'm looking forward to in Europe

Since I will be embarking on my long journey to Europe in 5 days, I thought it's about time to post my top 10 list of things I can't wait to do and see in Europe! :)

1. drink champaign on the plane

(source)

Did you know? Air France is the only airline in the world that offers free in-flight champaign. No way I'm passing up this lovely bonus!

2. see the wall of love (le mur des je t'aime) in Montmartre, Paris

(source)

On the hill of Montmartre, there is this wall full of "I love you"s--what's more romantic than that? Definitely a must-see. Maybe one day I will get to write my very own "je t'aime" there too!

3. eat lots of macarons

(source)

From the long post about macarons that I wrote a while ago, I believe my passion for these delicacies is pretty obvious... yum.

4. Climb up to the dome of Florence Cathedral

(source)

Duomo's dome is spectacular not only from the inside but also from the outside! By climbing up to the dome one will be able to marvel at its special double-shell design more closely.

5. see the mosaics in San Vitale

(source)

The picture above is a mosaic in this Early Christian into Byzantine church that depicts the emperor Justinian and his attendants. It's one of the most exquisite mosaics, being made as early as it was, in the 6th century!

6. eat pizza

(source)

When in Rome...eat pizza!

7. Make a wish by Fontana di Trevi

(source)

and make a wish! It's said that if one throws three coins into the fountain one wishes to stay in Rome forever!

8. eat lots of gelato

(source)

need I say more?

9. Visit Mozart's grave

(source)

It's not actually Mozart's grave, because no one really knows where the great musician was buried. But this beautiful place in Vienna forever holds a piece of his soul.

10. take a boat trip on the Danube

(source)

My best friend who lives in Europe suggested that a boat trip on the Danube would be just gorgeous. After seeing some pictures on Google Image, oh my, I am so in!

xx
Vanessa :]

fairytale land: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Title: Oz the Great and Powerful 

Year: 2013

Language: English

Director: Sam Raimi

My Rating: 3.9/5

I watched this film on my thirteen-hour-long plane ride from New York to Beijing. The overall impression is that it's a great means of in-flight entertainment, however it wouldn't be as indulgent if I had first seen it in the movie theater.

What I mean is that the special effects are spectacular, truly displaying a beautiful fairytale land for the audience, achieving what older version of the Oz story couldn't. The scene where Oscar first "landed" in the wonderland is breathtaking; a whole new realm is created in the film, one that is dreamy, delicate, mysterious, and magical all at once. Also, the computer-generated characters are really well made too, especially the little china girl. Her fragile presence adds the element of empathy to the story, evoking a tenderness from the audience. One more thing that I liked is the ending, when Oscar made genius use of his magic tricks to defeat the wicked witch. "Setting the stars on fire" is truly the ultimate innovative, poetic, and romantic way of describing fireworks. 

What I didn't like so much: the character-building of the wicked witch and the good witch. I'm not sure if it's the makeup application, or the costume, or something, these two characters just appear kind of tacky to me, like they belong to Barbie world or something, not in a movie where everything else looks pretty legit. That's about my only complaint, I guess, besides the fact that the plot is super duper predictable, but oh well, it's a well-known fairytale, so that's on the acceptable side. 

Again, I enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't watch it a second time, nor would I have been awed if I saw paid to see it in a movie theater.

xx

Vanessa :]

Art in music?

Hi y'all! I was on 8tracks the other day, and I stumbled across this song. 

As you can already see, it's a song that is full of Van Gogh references! Van Gogh lovers will devour this song, I'm sure of that! Plus it's just a beautiful song too!

Enjoy! :)

xx

Vanessa :]

Welp

I just got done watching the movies Primer and Upstream Color. I was going to write review for both of them...but they are both just too bloody complicated for that. So I just suggest you watch them yourself. The timelines are all twisty and I can't really decide what came first. AHHHHHH my brain hurts so much right now. Just go watch them. You won't be disappointed.

Sorry I missed Music Monday, Old Sport

I was too busy partying with this man who lives just across the garden from me :P

Book Expo America adventures :D

On June 1st I attended the long-anticipated BEA--Book Expo America at Javits Center, New York City with my friend Julia. What can I say, the whole experience was just amazing, worthy of a minute-by-minute breakdown blog post, and today I'm going to try my best to describe the highlights.

I booked a hotel near Javits Center, and Julia came to sleep over the night before. The next morning we got up super early (aka 6:30 am) so we could get to BEA before 8! We thought we were fairly early, but as soon as we walked into the main hall, we were shocked by how! many! people! were! already! there!!! Seriously, the place was crawling with people.

Julia & I, bright and early in the morning from Javits Center

After we got over our oh-my-god-what-is-going-on panic, we got ourselves registered (we bought tickets online, so we didn't have to stand in the walk-in line, which was an interesting length, let me just say). We got our own Power Reader badges with green lanyards and our names printed across, as well as a bag of free books! The bag was so heavy we had to get them checked at baggage check area (where there were people checking whole suitcases of books!).

When we're done with that we went into the main events hall for author breakfast. We had to pay extra for this, but it's always great to hear Chris Matthews talk about stuff. The author speakers of that day were the very Helen Fielding who wrote Bridget Jones, and two others (John Lewis and Diana Gabaldon) that I unfortunately don't know as much about. On a side note, the breakfast was deleeeeeecious! I had a blueberry muffin, a scone, and an everything bagel with yummy cream cheese!

Following breakfast, we went through the main entrance, where free totes were given, to pick up more free books! When we were in line, we heard the Sarah Dessen would be signing at 10:00 that day, and tickets would be given out at the Power Reader lounge. Oh my, I was so excited that I literally sprinted to the lounge as soon as we got into the main exhibition hall. Poor Julia, she's a swimmer, not a runner... 

And and and, thank God that I ran, because we got two of the last few tickets! Phewwww. If only I came a few minutes later, I would've had to go home without meeting Sarah Dessen, who honestly wrote all of my favorite books in 9th and 10th grade.

In the morning, we just walked from booth to booth, collecting cool gadgets and books, meeting with book lovers like us, etc. The venue was divided up into sections mostly according to publishers; big publishers had overhead hanging signs that were easy to spot. At the Scholastics area, they were handing out free copies of the Hunger Games!!! And this children's book booth that we passed by were handing out helium balloon pets that were the cutest things ever! Look, you can actually walk it :)

ignore my random face :p

At 10:00 we got our signatures from Sarah Dessen, on her new book The Moon And More. She was really nice, she had on a cute white dress that I so wanted to ask where she bought :P Here's a (slightly blurry) pic of her signing my book (she personalized it too! it says, "To Vanessa"):

check out my dog too :P

 Then I got an autograph from Elizabeth Norris, the author of Unraveling. She was very friendly, we talked for a little bit. And guess what--we have twin dogs!!

 They have tons of cool stuff--like the books from the Harry Potter movies!! Watch out for the tusky one in the middle..

 I'm wearing the badge in the pic, it has a read pin that says "I read YA" on it.

All day we wandered around like this, picking up awesome stuff and talking to authors and fellow readers. It was a great experience because I've never known that you could be such a cool nerd reader! There are simply so many people who share the love of reading that it surprises as much as delights me.

To end the perfect day and this blog post, here's a selfie of Julia and I in a cute cafe in Korea town. We had an awesome ice bowl with green tea ice cream, red beans, and lots of yummy fruits!

xx

Vanessa :]

Savvy Saturday : Ye Olde Vinyl

I'm not sure what it is right now, but I'm in future planning mode. I spent all last week fantasizing about what my ideal library would look like (it's pretty darn awesome). This week I've been stuck on records. I ran across my grandmothers old record collection the other day. I was looking through them and became really nostalgic. So last night I spent two hours looking at turntables that were in my price range.

There are actually quite a few to choose from, many of them from Crosley which seems to be the main one on Amazon.

But when looking for a turntable you have to take quite a few things into account:

• Sound. Many of the turntables, especially portable cheap ones, do not carry the sound as well as the more expensive models. While they sound okay, they may not be what you are looking for. Keep in mind what you want from this player. Do you want something retro and nostalgia filled. Or are you buying one because you like the sound of vinyl better than digital (this is me). Remember that you are going to get what you pay for. 
• Quality. Because vinyl records are so easily damaged one has to be leery of quality. Many of the Crosley products have a ceramic cartridge. The cartridge is the device that converts the vibrations from the needle into sound. Originally, these cartridges were magnetic. The ceramic cartridges weight more and therefore can cause more damage to your records.
• Speed. There are three speeds. 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm playback. Almost all records are 33 1/3 and 45 rpm, but a few of the oldies will play at 78 rpm. Many players do not have the capability to play at that speed. 

Taking these three things into account let's move on. 

When I began this journey (Monday, so believe me, I'm less than experienced still) I had no idea what I was looking for. So like any good eighteen year old I got onto Amazon. I found a plethora of turntables. The first one to catch my eye was this: 

Crosley Cruiser Portable Turntable

And being the inexperienced buyer that I was, I thought, "Well gosh, that is so cute!"

Rule number one: Unless it is clothes or puppies or boys, never buy something on its "cute factor" alone.

Record players are definitely not going to just get by on their looks. When I really dug into the specs of this thing I realized that it wouldn't live up to my standards. Don't get me wrong, this thing is pretty good. Especially for the price they are asking: $79.95. That's a steal.

The specifications aren't too bad either:

• 3 Speed Turntable
• Portable Audio Ready with Aux-in
• Built-in Stereo Speakers
• RCA Output Jacks
• Headphone Jack

That' really all the casual listener would need. If you were just getting started and were on a tight budget then this would be the one I would suggest.

But here is my warning. Those speakers are tiny, and while it gives you two options for external speaker systems that kind of defeats the purpose of its portability. Also, thinking back to the cartridge, it's a Crosley and therefore may cause damage to your records (I don't know if this is true or the extent of the damage. It's just what I've heard from many different sources). In addition to the cartridge is the sound quality. This has less to do with the speakers and more to do with the product itself. Remember that you are getting what you pay for, and $80 is not a lot. It's housed in plastic and may wobble. That means that your sound is not going to be as crisp and warm. 

Needless to say, I still think this thing is so cute and I still want to buy it just on that fact alone.

If you're still looking for portable but with a better sound I ran across a Crosley with a magnetic cartridge that I am seriously thinking about buying:

Crosley Collegiate Turntable

This one is actually really nice compared to the other Crosley products available. 

• Vinyl-wrapped
• Belt-driven turntable mechanism
• Diamond stylus needle
• Plays 33-1/3, 45 and 78 RPM records
• Dynamic full range stereo speakers
• Headphone jack
• Portable turntable
• Durable aluminum grill

While the speaker does look enormous and mono, it's actually two very small speakers (which is depressing) but the reviews I've seen say this is still really good. Again, three speeds and a really nice tray. It doesn't look wobbly like the others. It's also an amazing price at Walmart: $88.

If I get a portable one, this will be the one I want to get.

I also found a really interesting turntable that would be perfect for any college kid in a small dorm room.

Crosley Revolution Turntable

This thing is SMALL. When I first saw it I laughed. I looks like it would be awful. But according to a lot of people it's not actually all that bad. Sure it doesn't have the best sound, sure it wobbles a bit. But if you buy a turntable that doesn't even qualify as a table you can't expect perfection. 

If you aren't serious about audio quality or record wear and you are low on space this is actually a good option (and one I'm considering). 

We have two full-size and high-end turntables at my house so sound quality really isn't one of my big issues. I'm looking for something I can take to college and the Revolution is looking pretty darn good. 

As you can tell, most of the portable turntables are Crosley. While their quality isn't the highest they are still one of the major options if you are looking for portable and affordable. Again, this all depends on what you are looking for. These are not high quality tables and if you are an audiofile these are going to be sorely disappointed. Look for something else. 

There are many other affordable options for turntables which require separate speakers. These are higher quality and better suited for purists. I'll be reviewing these soon. 

Do any of you have turntables? If so, what do you have and what do you like/not like about them.

for high school graduates: Roomies

Title: Roomies
Authors: Sara Zarr & Tara Alterbrando
My rating: 3.4/5

"It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate."


**Announcement: I got this book as an ARC at BEA. The expected publication date of Roomies is December 2013**

I finished Roomies in one sitting on my thirteen-hour flight from New York to Beijing. It's been four days since I finished reading it, and I'm still trying to sort out how I feel about it. It's really sort of like "hmm...eh...oh well."

Why do I say so?

Part 1: Hmm.
The beginning of the book had a lot of promise. The email setup is refreshing and sums up a lot about the two protagonists EB and Lauren in a few short emails. The narration in between the emails spell out the protagonists' thought processes fairly well, as a supplement for the emails. It's understandable, since you don't expect two otherwise strangers to spill out their hearts to each other upon the first email exchange. By adding the narrative the authors help us get a better understanding of EB and Lauren's personalities. This first part of the book I liked. Not loved, but liked. I was starting to expect something great to unfold.

Part 2: Eh.
As the story carried on, however, I started to feel a little disappointed. Other than the unconventional email setup, everything else about this book seems just so...average. Nothing dramatic seems to happen, besides the typical high school stuff (oops I just cheated on my boyfriend. Oh wait, maybe he's not my boyfriend anymore. He's with so-and-so anyway). There is a bit of family drama for both EB and Lauren, that I have to admit, is one of the deeper topics this book touches on, however it doesn't touch on it quite deep enough that the protagonists gain something significant from it. So this is the "eh" part, where I feel like I'm rereading any chick lit book from my 10th grade stash.

Part 3: Oh well.
Towards the end I started liking the story again, especially in the last few pages, where both EB and Lauren start to approach the dorm, and your expectation just builds and builds and builds. You think about all the emails they exchanged, their virtual friendship, wrecked and pieced together again. You wonder if they will get along, just like I as an upcoming college freshman wonder if I will become good friends with my own roommate. I guess in this sense the book has come to me at a right time; I can totally empathize with the protagonists. Above all, the writing is still good and enjoyable, there is an okay flow to the story. For when you are on the airplane, or on the beach with not much to do, this is just the right casual book to read.

xx
Vanessa :]

Just so you know...

I'm still alive!!! Sorry for being MIA for so long. I was taking kind of a road trip with my family, during which a LOT of amazing things happened. So as soon as I'm settled down, I will be coming up with lots of book reviews and film reviews and such.

A few highlights for y'all to look forward to:

book review of Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Alterbrando

film reviews of Cirque du Soleil, and Oz the Great and Powerful

my road trip to Chicago/Evanston to see Northwestern, where I'm going to be for the next four years!

my crazy/amazing experience as a Power Reader at BEA (Book expo America!)

Toodles until next time! 

xx

Vanessa :]