Regarding Susan Boyle.

If anybody ever thought that appearance and talent always went hand in hand, you were wrong. There are actresses and actors that are so damn beautiful that you want to swoon on the floor every time you see them on the screen, who act out their scenes with such passion that you're reduced to a tearing lump of matter and who have fan bases made of of everyone from frantic, slightly insane teenage girls to older ever-admiring adults.

Susan Boyle is a bit on the old side. Also a bit on the odd side. She has wild hair, a double chin and isn't very fit for swimsuit modeling. She lives alone in her cottage with her cat. She also has one of the best, most amazing voices on earth. Sensitive, sparklingly brilliant and strong, her voice carries us all to heaven on wings of gold. The moment she stepped onto the stage of BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT, everybody immediately assumed she would be one of the people to be laughed at, mockingly ridiculed and booed off the stage. She was ambitious, she was honest, she was awkward. Simon Cowell looked like he was about to kick her off the stage. The audience's mind was already made up as they sat there with their arms crossed shaking their heads in smug disbelief, convinced she would fail to impress.

The assistants pressed the Play button for the audio track.

And right then and there, my readers, Susan Boyle proved her audience wrong.

Amanda Holden's mouth dropped wider and wider in complete awe as the audience went wild, their beliefs defied in front of their eyes. And not without reason...

I've laid it out, guys. Susan Boyle is the Goddess of Song. My personal Angel of Music, if you will, for all those Phantom of the Opera fans out there. Unlike a goddess, she defied the consensus of beauty even though thousands of people her age are defying their years and looking 30 instead. She's perfectly ordinary: she has that little bit of awkwardness we all have, she feels happiness and hope and rejection, and I think I can safely assume we all shared that crazy feeling of total ecstasy when Susan was cleared for the next round.

It doesn't matter that there are many other strong contestants out there also vying for the number one spot. Susan Boyle is on her way, ladies and gents, and rest assured, she won't be easily forgotten.

Ah, the trials of being a student.

Let's see. AP US History Document-Based Question (Essay) due Monday, along with a persuasive speech that I basically have to memorize cold. omG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Along with math homework and a Spanish chapter test. ¿Ayudame?

Yeah. Help.

Bye Bye to Lovely Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. See you in a bit, I hope....

Had to return my Phantom of the Opera DVD, on long-term loan from my dad. I'm gonna miss all the Phantom's cape swishes =\

<< Gerard butler in makeup for the Phantom prosthetic. First time the makeup team tried it out on him, it took nine hours straight. Poor guy!

Spring Break

My spring break is here (thank God, I made it through a whole month and a half of solid school!) and I am officially CALIFORNIA-BOUND! That is, tomorrow afternoon. I still have to pack (a daunting task), do some schoolwork and clean my room (even more daunting).

that and if all goes well in 24 hours I'll be doing karaoke! First time. =)

Getting the ITCH.

My facebook friend tagged me in a note asking me how many good/classic books I've read, out of a hundred total. Turns out I only read 16. OUCH. Some of the books on the list ("Yes" means I've read them):

Lolita
The Color Purple
1984 (Yes)
Great Expectations (Yes)
Oliver Twist
A Tale of Two Cities
Catcher in the Rye (Yes. Ugh. See earlier blog entry.)
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Yes)
The Kite Runner

So anyway, I knew the plots of some of those books, and I was checking them out in greater detail on Wikipedia (I'm an addict to Wiki), and started wanting desperately to check some of those books out. Especially Lolita and The Color Purple. Despite all the issues pro-censorship people love to point out, especially in Lolita (sexual abuse in minors, kidnapping; racism in Color Purple, etc), they sounded really good.

There's a reason why they're famous and why they're regarded as classics. Speaking of which, I'm also feeling a dire need to check out some other, lesser-known novels of a slightly more grownup nature [this is a total euphemism]. Unfortunately, this goal will have to wait...

I am SO itching to do a Celeb Cutie write-up to Gerard Butler. However.....

More important things are on my mind.

FINALS
Trying to find some sort of point in the book The Bluest Eye
Sleep
Choir concert tomorrow!


Ayudame! Please?

Othello, Julius Caesar, and other things.

I love English, but my teacher's tough. She's a fair grader, but she's into details and she assigns a whole lot of work each time we read this or that. Imagine reading both Othello and Julius Caesar at the same time. No need to imagine...she's already ordered my honors class to do them both. In addition to just reading the plays:

• Othello test tomorrow. *frantically goes on Sparknotes.com*
  
• Recite from memory a 25-line soliloquy from either play, complete with props, acting, etc.
• Identify around 40 Othello quotes: Who speaks to whom and what the quote means
• Othello vocabulary test
• Othello character journals analyzing each important character
• Answer around 40 Othello reading comprehension questions
• Also answer around 30-ish Julius Caesar questions, complete with the act, scene and line number you find the answer in.

PHANTOM PIC OF THE DAY: