With only a month left...

So unless you are not living in the U.S or you are somehow very removed from society, you should know that America is in the midst of  a full blown political race to the White House. And we could possibly have a new president reigning over America for the next four years. Or hopefully not. 

Anyways, on Thursday Mr. President visited my hometown beautiful hometown of Madison, WI. And so on Thursday, almost a third of the kids at my darling high school skipped school and traipsed downtown to Bascom Hill in hopes of seeing or shaking hands with the the president. I unfortunately was not as close as I'd hoped, and the wait was long, but when Obama came out it was like a burst of ecstasy and exhilaration to see the most powerful man in the world step onto the platform, smiling and waving to the absolute mass of people. And GODNESS his speech was more lively and invigorating than the debate the night before. Though people, let's not be too harsh on Mr.President because my AP Government & Politics teacher said he was just off the campaign trail, only having like one day to prepare while Mitt Romney had been holed up in Denver for four days previously, preparing. And also, this debate was Obama's to loose and Romney's to win so of course Romney was going to try to be  lively and a bit more aggressive, trying to make up for his coming up short in the polls. It would not have looked good for the president to have come off as aggressive as he was in the lead, one political spectators in the post-debate show said he could have come off as a bully. Okay. Enough of my getting sidetracked. 

So for this rally, I did not bring my camera, we only took pictures on my mother's iPhone (not spectacular ones at that because we were so far away) but standing in line, I did aquire some very funny  anti-Romney stickers;

Okay, So I know the orange one is hard to read, but it says "Are you under 30? DON'T VOTE paid for by Wall Street Billionaires for Mitt Romney. 

And another funny sticker I saw but didn't have a chance to get was " Mitt Romney for President of the Cayman Islands" Which, if you don't get, is poking fun of Romney because a lot of billionaires or excessively  rich people have offshore accounts so they don't have to pay taxes on them. Which is why Mitt has offshore accounts on the Cayman Islands.

So enough of my wordy, long political post, but I just needed to get it out there. Also, fun fact- 4 years ago I met Michelle Obama when she came on the campaign trail! My mother and I had biked downtown and somehow ended up in the front row and then she came around to shake hands and I got to hug her and shake her hand and talk a tinsy minuscule amount to her! I have pictures, but they're on my other computer... ( I got a new mac for college which I am HIGHLY enthused about).

On a last note, get out here and VOTE VOTE VOTE (for Obama, unless you think that the government should decide what women do with their bodies and think the very wealthy should get tax breaks). 

For fun, here's a link to a sweet Obama stamp- Obama stamp

So The Avengers...

 So here they are....

And here's what I think of them. Well, of their movie. 

I think there are two types of superhero movies.  A superhero movie with integrity, and a superhero movie made up of just muscle and action. The Avengers is of the latter type. Which is not altogether bad don't get me wrong, but it falls into the usual plot basis of other "just muscle and action" movies where the only plot element, is basically DEFEAT THE BAD GUYAND SAVE THE WORLD!!! Which is all The Avengers really was, and nothing more. The director and producers certainly packed this movie full of kick-ass moves, and glued-to-the-screen fight sequences, which is probably what drew the crowds in to break box office records (to which I thankfully did not contribute to, considering I just watched this on DVD last night). And as for the IMDb rating of 8.5/10, I disagree, and would myself, probably give The Avengers like a 7.2/10 or something, because all it was was two hours of action, and granted, some very amusing, dry, comments from Tony Stark.  Also... The whole tesseract problem was not a particularly creative, new or interesting problem, although the turtle things that fly in at the end were pretty cool. 

Oh, and Chris Hemsworth has a dead sexy voice. 

And that's all! But if you want a fantabulous superhero movie with integrity, go watch The Dark Knight Rises, an absolute thrill ride, and one of my favorite movies. Not mention the fact that Catwoman 100% out-does the Blackwidow.

the teaser tidbit

PEOPLE.

A teaser for the upcoming film adaption of The Hunger Games was released at the VMA awards last night. OOOO I am excited! Though its barely anything, I think this tidbit is perfect.

• I love the shot of her arrow flying into the mockingjay pin grapic.
• I think the tiny bit of the score we heard (if it is the official score) is a little commercial and could be better, but it'll do.
• I like that the people who have read the book can tell exactly from which scene in the book this clip is about

The official trailer, I belive, is to be released in November and so my guess, is that it will debut with the Twilight: Breaking Dawn, part 1 film.

( ekkkk. Like really? I'd rather not taint The Hunger Games with Twilight, but I guess its good for publicity...)

Anyways, I am excited beyond belief, and if you haven't yet read the thrilling, compelling, and extremely original pieces of literature, do. The Hunger Games in paperback is $ 4.94 on amazon.com.

Gardens

So yesterday, after a delightful morning run to the farmers market, I spent the afternoon weeding our backyard. Which, prior to the massive weeding session, looked a little bit like the jungle's cousin.We have prarie with all your usual prarie grasses, flowers and plants, which, like most grasses, flowers and plants are very tall grasses, flowers and plants. That overgrown mess, along with the trumpet vine that was invading the space of our newly planted rasberry plants, took most of our afternoon.

Despite all of the strenuous work that sometimes comes along with a garden, having one truly pays off. The prarie grows right in front of my parents' bedroom window and so when you look out, its a beautiful, up close view of the prarie. And of course, all of the tomatos, beans, flowers, raseberries and whatnot, definatly pay off.

Below is a gorgeously shot video of gardening from the blog tiger in a jar

Gulp

How many of you have seen Gulp, the largest outdoor stop motion animation ever?

Well, its pretty amazing how much work went into each frame and that it was filmed entirely on a Nokia N8.

Here's the finishing product, and then and must-see video on how the amazing video was made.

Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.

hilarious

Hilarious photos put out by GQ in their August 2011 issue. Its Ken Jeong from The Hangover adding all the laughs. Enjoy!

Where I've Been

HELLO there!

So I've been gone for the past two weeks, in well, I think you can guess the city by the picture below...


Yes, the ridiculous New York City.
I was on a mission trip with my youth group and we were working with Project Hospitality on Staten Island, helping in the food pantry, serving meals, unloading deliveries of food, and any other odds and ends. Oh, and we worked a sweet food drive at a local grocery store. It was a fabulous experience and trip, talking to the homeless people that frequent the pantry, listening to their stories and conversing with them. I learned so much from them. And the nights and day we took to visit Manhatten was wonderful. We took a tour of Ground Zero (a really emotional tour that I highly reccomend), went to the Rockerfeller Center and took a tour of NBC studios (we saw the set of Saturday Night Live!), went to Centeral Park & got ripped off on hot dogs ;D, went to the observation deck up high in the sky at the Empire State Building at night, and of course saw the one and only, Times Square at night. Oooo, I am definatly heading back the the city.

So these shots are all taken by Evan Joseph, who worked closely with a pilot to get the phenomonal ariel shots that show off New York City's glory from the sky.