Picture Penchants

I really like the word penchant.

I also like alliteration.

I am also really excited for this month of Alliteration August.

In lieu of that fact that this is my first AA (Alcoholics Anonymous!?) post, the following are some pictures I have a penchant for:

This picture of Vivien Leigh.

Scissors beat paper: enough said.

Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits. Ahh, look at that lighting and shading.

Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friedrich. Currently my favorite artist. (For the time, until I find a new artist that I like even more.)

This picture of Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn, on the set of War and Peace.

Sleep

I just want to crawl in a hole until this storm that's raging can pass over, colliding with my surroundings while I peacefully sleep, unaware of the tumult that's engulfing me. I just want to rest, carefree and blissfully.

But I'm too late. I'm already aware.

I already know the stakes.

I already know the consequences of a decision that I will either have to make or one that will be forced upon me.

This next year of my life seems so trivial in the grand scheme of things, yet for the present (carpe diem) I'm reluctant to act on this observation. I'm hesitant to up and leave a life I've established, teammates I've worked with these past few years.

Why must all these things happen at once, so quickly? Overload.

Father Time seems to have betrayed me.

Empire Falls

Or, more appropriately, A Waste of My Time.

Seriously, why the heck am I reading this book?

Does it have literary merit? No.

Does it have a point? No.

Am I interested in reading about a dilapidated town with discouraging residents? Perhaps if it was written well.

Honestly, what's with the Russo's diction? It's unrefined, coarse, uncreative, and common. Much of his subject matter is so Freudian it makes me sick.

Empire Falls represents a lot of things that I don't care for in a novel, especially in contemporary fiction. It's cliche and very discouraging.

I'm very disappointed, Kidle, VERY disappointed. I had much better expectations for AP Literature.

I'm not even bothering to finish this book. If you really knew me, this would be saying quite a bit.

Quiz Bowl Camp!

It was pretty good. I learned a lot, actually, especially about poetry. Now I know all these poets and famous lines from poetry (like Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is full of good quotes). You learn some quizbowltastic* facts at ACE, too. Some of my favorites?

• Mussolini started out as an elementary school teacher. Does anyone else find this a bit scary? It's like saying Hitler used to run a day care in his backyard or something. (OK, perhaps the Hitler part is worse...but still.)
• Kepler got a chunk of his nose cut off in a duel with some other astronomer. Apparently Kepler was like, "I'm the greatest astronomer!" and some other guy was like, "No, I am!!" Kepler may have been the better astronomer, but he was not the better swordsman...
• Samuel Coleridge wrote Kubla Khan while high on opium. While writing it, a man from Portlock came and interrupted him but he got the wrong address and when Coleridge went back to finish his poem, his high had worn off. Sadly, he couldn't finish it. (You are very welcome for that bit of information. Now go and power that question in a quiz bowl match.)
• The chancellor of Germany before Hitler, Papen, greatly underestimated his successor. Here's how it went:

Hitler: Papen! Convince Hindenburg to make me chancellor!

Papen: LOL, yeah he's so old he won't even know what's happening. I think he crossed the Alps with Hannibal.

Hitler: ROTFL!! But seriously, will you help me!?!?

Papen: [thinking Hitler is a weak leader and that he can use Hitler's failures to make himself president of Germany] Yeah, OK!

...do I need to finish the rest of the story? Obviously he underestimated Hitler, seeing as how Papen isn't even mentioned in most textbooks.

• Andrew Marvel's "To His Coy Mistress" talks about vegetable love. Seriously. I don't even know what it means:

"My vegetable love should grow/Vaster than empires, and more slow"

• If you were to travel to a black hole, time would slow down. Also, black holes are bald. ("No Hair Theorem.")

I'm probably forgetting some others...oh well.

*Quibowltastic is an original Bianka Rose. It's going on the same list as hupix, I do declare.

Art Museums

I try to live a life without regrets, but I think this is impossible for many people if not everyone. Some regrets I have:

• visiting Berlin and not going to ANY of the art museums there. Checkpoint Charlie was interesting, but seriously, no art museums?
• going to Chicago and NEVER going to the art museum there (it has Nighthhawks, American Gothic, and so much more. I drool over their collection of Impressionist paintings).
• only going to the DIA and the museum at the Parthenon in Nashville, although the former does have an excellent Dutch art collection and the latter has a great accumulation of Hudson River School pieces.

Conclusion: I need to get to more art museums.

The MOMA is screaming my name, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is simply waiting for me, the Uffizi is getting a bit impatient with my lack of funds to even get to Italy (as am I). The Louvre knows I need to see its treasure trove of art, the Prado is keenly aware that its Goyas are a magnetic force, the Hermitage is beckoning to me with its Rembrandt collection. The National Portrait Gallery in London has the only verified portrait of Jane Austen while the National Gallery (in London) has masterpieces from Giotto to Cezanne. So many places, so little time, so little funds.

Why don't I live in Europe?! I think this is the real issue here.

Book Covers and Other Things

I have Samantha to thank for my book cover craze right now. So, thanks? These for Lemony Snicket and these for Harry Potter were pretty great. I'm also really liking the ones for Penguin Classics. In May it dawned on me that they put classical art on the covers of many works of literature....ever since then, I always look to see what the cover design is. I have a Gros on my copy of War and Peace, I saw a Pride and Prejudice with a Manet, a Man in the Iron Mask with Rembrandt's magnum opus, and a collection of Charles Dickens with sketches by Boz. (I'm not a big fan of Boz right now actually. Well, perhaps I should say: I'm not a big fan of the art community for attributing many of Rembrandt's works to Boz, who was a pupil of his. Yeah, I'm kind of upset over this.) For some reason though, I find this really exciting.

I have a lot to do, mainly for quiz bowl. The other day I discovered that the library has this book I've been looking for and guess what? I've already read most of the book. I stumbled upon it last summer and started reading it, however I did not finish it nor did I know that it was recommended by quiz bowl forums. I feel rather accomplished.

Quiz bowl camp is getting close....I'm kind of really pumped.

It blows my mind....

Several things blow my mind. For instance,

• the size of the universe. Just think about it. If you were to fall in space, where the heck would you go? Would you just float in space? Is our universe within another universe? Oh my gosh, it creeps me out. Conclusion: The universe is HUGE.
• the concept of eternity. Do I really want to live forever? What would I live for? What would I do? Wouldn't you get extremely bored? I feel like some things have to end, even if eternal happiness is promised. Conclusion: Eternity is a really, really, really long time and sounds extremely boring.
• the concept of a Nazi-Zombie-Communist. You might be thinking, "But, Bianka, Nazis and Communists hate each other. They can't co-exist within the same being." Conclusion: A dead person who shares equally with all while believing in a supreme race. I dig it.
• time. I mean, what's with time? We try to measure time and our whole world is bound by time. Really, there is no such thing as time. The future is quickly becoming the present and the present quickly becoming the past. There is no time. Conclusion: It's a conspiracy.
• Volansky. What the heck goes through that woman's head? Conclusion: I will never know, nor do I necessarily want to know.