Hands Down, the Best Books I’ve Ever Read!

1. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
   “I knew,” he continued, “you would do me good in some way, at some time: I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you; their expression and smile did not strike delight to my inmost heart so for nothing.”
   
2. White Fang, Jack London
   “As he piled wood on the fire he discovered an appreciation of his own body which he had never felt before…It fascinated him, and he grew suddenly fond of this subtle flesh of his that worked so beautifully and smoothly and delicately. Then he would cast a glance of fear at the wolf-circle drawn expectantly about him, and like a blow the realization would strike him…”
3. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
   “It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law… The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect, and while he faced that aspect uncowed, he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature aroused.”
4. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
   “Rand’s fourth, longest, and last novel… she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing.”
5. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
   “If you were in love you’d want to be broken, trampled, ordered, dominated, because that’s the impossible, in the inconceivable for you in your relations with people. That would be the one gift, the great exception you’d want to offer the man you loved. But it wouldn’t be easy for you.”
6. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
   “Feminine weaknesses and fainting spells are the direct result of our confining young girls to the house, bent over their needlework, and restrictive corsets.”
7. Quo Vadis? Henryk Sienkiewicz
   “Riches, glory, power are mere smoke, vanity! The rich man will find a richer than himself; the greater glory of another will eclipse a man who is famous; a strong man will be conquered by a stronger. But can Cæsar himself, can any god even, experience greater delight or be happier than a simple mortal at the moment when at his breast there is breathing another dear breast, or when he kisses beloved lips? Hence love makes us equal to the gods.”
8. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
   “They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”
9. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
   “‘And I pray one prayer–I repeat it till my tongue stiffens–Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you–haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’”
10. Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
    “I told them I wasn’t giving up until my dogs did.”
11. The Awakening, Kate Chopin
    “It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier’s mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we would assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”
12. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
    Steinbeck: “Everything I’ve ever written has been practice for this.”
13. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
    “I kissed her and saw that her eyes were shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into.”
14. Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen
    “It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;– it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”

Recently Found Favorite Quotes!

“It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.”
-Henri Matisse

“If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?”
-Van Gogh

“The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.”

“Well it’s way past midnight and there are people all around/
Some on their way up, some on their way down/
The air burns and I’m trying to think straight/
And I don’t know how much longer I can wait/”
- Bob Dylan

“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.”
- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.”
- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“To be awake is to be alive.”
-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“In the hopes of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.”
-Albert Schweitzer

What are some of your favorites?

My Latest College Candy Post: DON’T Pass the Salt, Please!

This Body Blog post was actually fun to research. Click here to read my article about how bad sodium really is for you!

“There’s lots of people in this world who spend so much time watching their health that they haven’t the time to enjoy it.” -Josh Billings

Easy, Delicious Recipes I Need to Make ASAP

I’m a college student. There are many connotations one can take from this declaration. Namely, that I have no money and live off of Ramen noodles. It’s somewhat true – my bank account is unimpressive. So I wanted to find recipes that will be manageable, delicious (worth all that time slaving away in my kitchen) and won’t cost me an arm and a leg… or this semester’s textbooks. And for anyone who’s been through the current higher education system, we all know that they are practically equivalents.

So check out these cheap, quick, easy, HEALTHY recipes:

Salad – Tuna Salad

Take the recipe above and do what you will with it. I know I did! Everyone always has a can of tuna somewhere in their abode. Get yours out of hibernation, cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, or whatever veggies you have that still go with tuna. Add your standard olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, etc. Mix it all together, maybe throw some cheese on top, and DEFINITELY eat with some pita bread/whole wheat wraps/crackers.

Pasta – Florentine Ravioli

Don’t be fooled – you can do this with whatever pasta product you have laying around at home – penne, linguine, rotini, ravioli… seriously. ANYTHING PASTA will work well with this recipe. Try whole wheat for a healthy kick. Basically, all you have to do is 1) Boil the pasta 2) Saute frozen spinach with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, etc. 3) Mix ‘em together. Gosh I love simplicity.

Dessert – Apple Cobbler (using Cake Mix)

Yes, I linked to their homemade recipe, but really, I don’t want to make theirs. I don’t have 60 minutes just to make freakin’ dessert – it’s optional! So here’s what you can do to get the same delicious results. Slice the apples pretty thin, sprinkle cinnamon over them, and then buy some white cake mix. Follow those directions, spread it on top, and bake it at 350 degrees until its nice and golden brown. My roomie made this a few weeks ago, and I swear that if heaven somehow landed in my mouth, that’s what it would’ve tasted like. And of course, no apple dessert is complete without vanilla ice cream!

Sandwich – Grilled Veggie Mozzarella Panini

It sounds fancy, but it’s not in the slightest. You literally can’t go wrong. In my version, I’m just going to take whatever vegetables I have lying around, slice ‘em, coat ‘em with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper (which every respectable college student should own). Stick it between two slices of bread with shredded mozzarella, spray with cooking spray, and broil for 7-8 minutes. You never knew what that Broil setting was for, did you? Ha, neither did I.

Recent Musical Obsessions: Memories, Bedrock, & Internationally Resounding Love

“All You Need is Love”, by 156 musicians worldwide

Take a classic Beatles song and add a bit of international inspiration. Voila! Meet this rendition that nearly brings me to tears! I love that this timeless song was used for international collaboration…

“Memories”, by David Guetta & Kid Cudi

David Guetta is one of the best deejays out there – he ALWAYS makes me want to dance. And I can relate to all of Kid Cudi’s song lyrics targeted towards the soul-searchers in the crowd. Put them together and its the catchiest song I’ve heard in a LONG time.

“Bed Rock”, by Young Money

This is the only song on the radio lately that I don’t mind hearing. I don’t like any of the rappers, though. It’s all in the beat (genius!). I only know and appreciate the chorus – Lloyd could be singing about the Flintstones, a broom handle, or Japanese anime (any number of ridiculous things) and I would still love it.

“Wonderful Tonight” cover, by the Spartan Dischords (John Abud on solo)

It helps that I love this song, regardless of who sings it. But I obsess over John Abud. He has the most gorgeous voice I’ve ever heard live (If you like this one, you should check out his version of Beautiful Girl, too!). So here’s your accapella fix, with the most ridiculous, hilarious accapella group I know of.

Tupac Is Dead, Right?

I’m not into hip hop and rap history, but I’ve always wondered about 2Pac/Tupac. He died, right? Or not? Why does the controversy surrounding his death even exist? Is it legit in the slightest?

Because there’s no doubt – people DO think that he’s still alive. In fact, someone created an entire website about the reasons why 2Pac could still be alive. And some of the reasons actually SEEM pretty legit, albeit a few misspelled words:

• There were no witnesses on the street or in the car, and no suspects in the shooting
• No pictures were released of him in the hospital
• Tupac’s funeral was canceled for unknown reasons
• He always wore a bulletproof vest. But apparently the night of Tyson’s fight, he wasn’t.
• In “I Ain’t Mad Atcha”, released a few days after his death, Tupac is shown as an angel in heaven.
• He raps about being buried, but was cremated the day after he died. Strange to be cremated so soon, and to be cremated at all.
• The name of the album released after his death was Machiavelli, who “is an Italian war strategist who faked his death to fool his enemies”

Even for a skeptic like me, these reasons seem valid. But that was just a personal site. When I checked valid news sites, I found no controversy surrounding 2Pac’s death at all. For instance, NPR just leaves it at the fact that his murder is “unsolved”:

“Shakur was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, as he sat in the car of music mogul Suge Knight. Shakur was placed on life support but died six days later, on Sept. 13th, 1996. His murder remains unsolved.”

It’s also strange that his record company, Death Row, released so many posthumous Shakur albums. But then I did more research and found out a lot of the albums were just remixes or inspired by 2Pac’s poetry, etc. I now just think it’s sad that they’re still trying to make money off of him.

And Cracked.com most likely isn’t helping things. Yeah, it’s a humorous website, but a lot of people don’t know that! So when they reported on Tupac’s death and mentioned an article from Spring 2005 entitled “Tupac Alive and Well”, I checked it out. At first, it seemed legit, even though the rest of the article was kind of sketchy. They even included a screenshot.

But when I searched Google for the story, nothing came up. According to snopes.com, someone made a their own CNN news website and wrote a fake story about 2Pac. The real CNN made them take the article down (the domain was Nauru, a “small island in the Pacific”). Apparently somewhere on the fake article it says “April Fool! Tupac’s dead, get over it.” Or something to that effect.

So anyway, I guess Tupac really is dead. Just wanted to clear that up.
Your thoughts?

Everything Awesome Must … Come From Google?

We’re all a bit obsessed with Google and its constant innovations. Here are some tools and resources you should definitely know about and make use of:

Google Translator

Google Translator is awesome. Its different from a typical translator is that it’s constantly evolving and becoming more accurate because of USERS like us. The logic used is similar to a Wikipedia entry -the more people use it and correct the results, the more accurate the results will be in the future. Knowledgeable users always have the option to “contribute a better translation”.

Google Trends

Whether you’re doing research on search terms, trying to increase visits to your blog, or just finding out what people are searching for from a trivial standpoint, Google Trends is the best way to do it. Everyone’s Googling something – its a matter of finding out what they are Googling, what they are interested in that particular day/month, etc. You can compare the popularity of different search terms, as well.

Google is currently using this tool to track Flu Trends across the world.

Google Logos

If you’re a bit dorky like I am, you like Google’s creative logos. Really, if you’re like me, you navigate to the actual Google homepage rather than the search bar just to see how they’ve changed their logo. You’ll definitely enjoy this site and this site – they showcase all of the different, creative logos Google comes up with to commemorate holidays, birthdays, etc. around the world.

Google Sketchup

I just found out about making buildings and other models in 3-D using Google Sketchup. You can make anything 3-D: your kitchen, a person, or more commonly, a building.  I’d really like to play around with this! (in my non-existent free time, of course) . Here’s one of the renditions of Harvard Stadium:

Harvard Stadium in 3-D

There’s a contest going on right now to model the most important buildings and landmarks in your hometown. East Lansing doesn’t have a team yet… Anyone want to join me?

Auto-Complete

Autocompleteme is quite possibly the most entertaining of these tools. Everyone’s had crazy autocomplete options before while Googling! Here’s where they collect the funniest ones. Here’s one of my favorites:

Also, DON’T MISS the section entitled Jesus: The Autocompleted Life and Times. It’s absolutely divine.

My Latest CC Article: Work it Like the Military!

Check out College Candy to read this (edited) post and more of my other Body Blog posts!

I’m skeptical. If I hear Glee is a hilarious television show, I will not believe until I’ve seen the football team dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” on the field. If you tell me Special K bars will make me lose weight, I won’t believe until I read the nutrition facts for myself. So when my co-worker raved about the benefits of fitness boot camps, I obviously did not believe her until I tried it myself.

Working out is hard enough already – do you really need someone yelling in your face the entire time? If I want to workout, I can do it entirely on my own. I’m just fine pounding the treadmill alone. With my iPod. And without any camouflage, baggy pants, and whistles! After 7th grade, I resigned myself to the fact that I cannot do a pull-up, and I am more than fine with that. Plus, boot camp sounded so manly – I felt like I would get Jersey Shore style-jacked.

But my very persistent co-worker convinced me to try out a mini boot camp. Her friend, a certified instructor, was running it for free, which sealed the deal. And because I never suffer alone, I dragged two of my friends along.

We met in the gardens of a nearby private school. Yes, in the good old outdoors. The boot-campers arrived with their hands all taped up like kickboxers, dressed in serious sports bras that can double as shirts. Needless to say, I was a little intimidated.

We stretched, ran a bit, and were paired with partners for the rest of camp. Suddenly I found myself lunging, army crawling, jumping rope, and more with this partner of mine. Going from station to station kept me active and interested – and not counting down the minutes until I could stop working out. Goodbye, treadmill monotony! As the LA Times puts it, “The secret lies in the circuit-style workout that toggles between cardio and muscle building. This leaves little if any down time, and the shuffling of routines prevents boredom and exercise ruts.”

And as cheesy as this may sound, I loved having a partner cheer me on the entire time. Can you imagine having someone telling you how great you are, and how you just need to go a little bit farther, a little bit faster all the time? Let’s talk really effective motivation! The LA Times says that since “people are often paired or grouped for friendly competitions,” it can foster “a camaraderie and support not usually found in regular fitness classes. That camaraderie strengthens with time, establishing accountability, something fitness experts say is essential for sticking with a program”.

My skepticism was nowhere to be found as I punched, jumped, sprinted… and loved every minute of it. I’m not starved for attention, but I was really living up the group support. No matter who I found myself holding up, whose butt was near my face, or who I happened to be carrying up a hill (no joke), everyone believes in you and thinks you’re strong. Just working out with my girlfriends never results in that kind of motivation!

So maybe the skeptic is a believer now. And I’m not the only one. The LA Times article agrees that “for people willing to put in the work, boot camps enable exercisers to see results quickly, the better to stay motivated.”

Basically, Boot Camp Benefits include:
• being in the great outdoors
• having an always-changing workout
• constant motivation
• accountability
• feeling that you’re always challenging your body in new ways

Would you sign up for boot camp?

Too Good to Keep to Myself: The Onion

The Onion was HILARIOUS today. Thank me later:

• Woman Domesticated is a hilarious history of women that both male chauvinists and feminists can enjoy.
• Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia is self-explanatory. And made me LOL.
• Christ Returns to NBA is an audio news story. Also self-explanatory.

Sherlock Holmes Review: Robert Downey Jr. Rocked That British Accent.

Wondering if Sherlock Holmes is worth your money?

Let me assist you, since I saw Sherlock Holmes on Christmas Day. Yes, on the day it came out. I simply could not resist Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, AND Rachel McAdams! When the chance comes, you jump at it. And in case you disagree or you’ve been living under a rock, check out the riveting trailer below. It was enough to make me leave the fam for a few hours on Christmas Day:

I thought the movie definitely lived up to my expectations, which were pretty high considering I’m a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan. (I was hooked after I saw Chaplin for the first time) As for his drug addiction, we’re all addicted to something, right? At least he got over his already and is acting in some amazing movies already. I also think he has excellent bone structure, but then again I have a natural affinity for these things.

I’d never read a Sherlock Holmes book before, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original character seems too boring now anyway. The reviews I’ve read say that RDJ and Guy Ritchie, the director, really spiced up the original character for a modern audience. I actually think he ruined Doyle’s version for me.

Generally, the reaction seems quite positive. Sherlock Holmes is a trending topic on Twitter – there’s a general feeling of anticipation, excitement, and satisfaction with Downey Jr.’s portrayal from consumers, at least. The Times Online doubted that the on screen charisma was enough for an audience to want to see again and again (as in sequels). I disagree – although the chemistry/bromance between Downey Jr. and Law was a bit awkward at times, it was still very entertaining. The Wall Street Journal Blog, Speakeasy, reported that the “The Warner Bros. film… took in $24.9 million on its opening day, according to early estimates from Hollywood.com. In second place on Christmas Day was “Avatar” (Fox) which brought in $23.5 million.” Well deserved.

Verdict: See it. If you are an Arthur Conan Doyle fan, it’s a new twist on the Holmes you love. If you are a RDJ fan, it’s just another brilliant performance.

“No girl wants to marry someone who can’t tell if a man is dead or not!” – Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes