Tri-varsity!!

Here at Rhodes University the student are quite infamously known for being quite heavy partier and Tri-var , unfortunately, seems to prove that. Despite the fact that there are actually four universities involved instead of three and despite the fact that the sport isn’t even being played in Grahamestown this year Tri-var was one of the best weekends of my time here.

Rhodents, as we are commonly called, wear purple painted overalls as our official uniforms so the whole of last week the purple paint came out and the painting began! The Beit girls gathered together in our common room and we decorated our overalls together.

Friday night the party began and despite having to wait in the queue at Friars for about 20 minutes it was so worth it. (Those of you whose who have ever been in Friars will know that this statement is true.)  Friars may look like a lone wooden cabin on the outside, but on the inside it is pumping! And Friday night they decided to play 80s’ Classic rock for most of the night. It was amazing!! And I got to go with some of my new Beit House friends and with Jessica, one of my best friends from back home which was soooo special. I thought that rocking out to “Eye of the Tiger” was awesome, but it truly blew my mind when Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” came on!! I think that has to be the greatest song ever written.

In the words of one of my dearest friend Lisa Holtzhause: “Somewhere out there right now there is a group of drunken girls singing along to Journey’s ‘Don’t stop believing.’ ”

When you get so many students together you are bounded to hear some crazy stories, but I won’t delve too deeply in all our scandals. What happens in G-Town stays in G-town!

So as the dust cleared that Sunday morning and the fast food places were buzzing with hungry students who had crawled out of bed for some nourishment, it dawned on some of us that we haven’t done any work yet and as a way to punish us for all the fun we had during Tr-Var the university has doubled the amount of work for this week!!

But to address Rhodes’s bad reputation for being a university for drunks and stoners; all I have to say about that is that even though we do enjoy a good MARE* now and again we are also known for being one of the top notch universities in the country. If you don’t work+ party too hard= they kick you out, if they kick you out= Then you can’t PARTY! Rhodes envy is a scary thing!  Off to prepare for another night out!

(* The word MARE refers to a good night out.)

Harry Potter

One night during the vac, after a lot of begging I managed to make time to convince my friends to go watch the last Harry Potter movie. For some reason I was more excited than the rest of my friends, despite the fact that we are all fans. I jumped out of my skin; I got goosebumps; I laughed and I cried as it ended…

Now as a lover of the book series I naturally don’t love the movies as much as I love the books. I KNOW the acting is not that great! I KNOW that they changed things from the book, but I DON’T care. It’s more about the story than the movies.

Harry’s world is beautiful, filled with amazing creatures, interesting spells and heart-racing adventures. I wanted friends like Ron and Hermione; I wanted to be in Gryffindor; I wanted to play Quiditch and as the years went on I even developed a crush on bad-boy wimp Draco Malfoy and brave-hearted Neville Longbottom.

The story of Harry Potter is about loyalty, love, friendship, bravery despite the odds and the fact that good always over comes evil. A little magic in air is exciting…

 When I was 11, I read the first Harry Potter when Harry himself was 11. I grew up with Harry and I was 18 when the last book came out. I remember how, before I had read the books, my friends laugh at me for messing up the details. I remember racing my sister to the door when they delivered the latest Harry Potter book to our house. I remember sitting in the living room reading one of the Harry Potter books while my mother and my sister each read another one. These are parts of my childhood that I’ll never forget. Even to this day my mother will burst into my room with one of the books in her hand; reading a piece to me that I’m already very familiar with just so that we can enjoy it together again. 

J.K Rowling was just a poor, struggling housewife with a great imagination, who changed the lives of so many children across the globe. It’s going to take many years for another book series to make such a huge impact to young readers. Thank you Jo for my childhood. Harry Potter played such a large part in my childhood and now it’s over. What now?

So as the last few seconds of the last EVER Harry Potter movie faded to black so did the dying embers of my childhood fade to ash… From this point on there is no going back. I am official no longer a child. We spend most of our teen years trying to act older than what we actually are, but a part of me still wishes that I was still that little 11-year old hoping that I might one day get my letter from Hogwarts…

(PS I watched it again the other night with a close friend of mine here in Grahamestown and for those who don’t know, Grahamestown has a tiny cinema which can accommodate about 30 people and only three movies at a time. People may complain about this small cinema, but when you get so many students and Harry Potter fans together in one room hilarity ensues. We clapped when Neville killed the snake, laughed with joy when Ron and Hermione kissed, cheered when Harry conquered Voldemort and choked up when it ended. Jess and I got to nerd out and it was nice not to be the only ones. Wow, I love living in a student town…)

(PSS- I'll be doing character anaysises over the next couple of blog posts so watch this space...)

My own Taylor Swift songs

So while I was listening to my Taylor Swift playlist the other day I thought about the way in which Taylor Swift songs that are so personal and that any girl could actually write songs about their lives.

If I were Taylor Swift the songs on my album would be called:

1.     Why did you pick her instead?

2.     I wish I could cry about you

3.     I thought I didn’t need you

4.     Why don’t you see me?

5.     Love from afar

6.     Not ready for you

7.     Always remember the first love

8.     Trying to get over you

9.     So close to a kiss

10.  Flirt failure

11.  Where are the good guys?

12.  Waiting on my Hero

13.  I’m not Damsel in Distress

14.  Family first

15.  Don’t what to hear about your new girl

16.  Jealous much?

17.  Green-eyed bitch

18.  Man up!

19.  Always a bridesmaid

20.  Hate missing you

21.  Missing what you never had

22.  Hope you’re happy now…

23.  I know you’re out there

24.  Romantic loser

See anyone can write Taylor Swift-like songs titles; you give it a try…

Taylor Swift

The last couple of weeks I’ve seriously been trying to remember what young women used to do to get over emotionally hard times before Taylor Swift stepped onto the scene. Seriously, this girl just gets it. Her music has strong country music undertones with a pop-like nature. At the age of 22 Taylor Swift has been extremely influential in the world of country and modern popular music.

What makes Taylor Swift unique is her daring, yet still innocent, honest approach to song writing. She writes about things she, herself, has experienced and that way her songs become relatable, because truth be told at one point in her life a young women will go through something similar to what is described in one of Taylor Swift’s songs. All young women have faced or will face rejection, heartbreak, desperation or hopelessness and sadness at one point in their lives. In her songs she tackles universal themes such a unrequited love, forbidden feelings, cheating boyfriends, abusive relationships, growing up and that feeling of finally meeting the right person for you. I used to sing “You Belong with Me” loudly throughout most my pre-teen and young teenage years…

 I also find Taylor’s approach to song writing clever and witty in some songs. It’s often been said that men should not mess with Taylor Swift, because she’ll write a song about them. She has become known for directly addressing guys who have wronged her in her songs. For example in her song “Teardrops on my Guitar” she mentions her friend Drew you she had a crush on, but he was in love with someone else and never knew. This song was one of her songs that I related to the most…

 In her latest album she as a song called “Dear John” which is clear address to her older ex-boyfriend and known ladies’ man John Mayer. It is also a known fact that her song “Forever and Always” is about her famous ex Joe Jonas and Taylor’s song “Better Than Revenge” is about Camilla Belle, the girl Joe left her for.  One of my favourite Taylor Swift songs is called “Back To December” in which she talks about how she wishes that she had never broken her ex-boyfriend, Taylor Lautner.

Many of her songs speak about hope and standing up for what you believe in, even though you sometimes go through hard times. She sings all the things we want to say. I think she is an amazing role model for the modern young women… and I will always enjoy her music!!

(PS I cried like a baby while watch her “Mine” music video. I really don’t cry for music video often so that says something. PSS  Toby Hemingway is in it… <3)

It’s Friday! Friday! Gotta get down on…

If you have been living under a rock for the last couple of months it’s time for you to brush off the moss and reconnect with the world. Now unless you are one of those people you have most likely heard of Rebecca Black and her song about Friday. Friday has often been labelled the worst song ever written, which, at first, might sound a bit harsh, but once you hear the song then you’ll understand. Understandably it was written by a 13-year-old whose voice has been viciously auto-tuned, but seriously wasn’t there an adult there to jump in and save this poor girl who clearly thought that she would be the next Justin Bieber…

The video and songs start off when Rebecca wakes up in the morning and the proceeds to describe the process of getting up in the morning, but doesn’t seem to get to it in the video. Then she walks to the bus stop urgently, but when she sees her friends cruising she simple ignores the fact that she rushed to the bus stop and then decides to join them. Firstly I would drive around with a group of kids who don’t look old enough to drive and secondly during this whole scene Rebecca seems to have this big crisis about where she has to sit when there is only one seat actually available. There are kids in Africa who don’t have an education and Rebecca’s biggest worry, while missing school is that she doesn’t know where to sit.

Patrice Wilson, a co-producer at ARK Music Factory, also randomly shows up and begins to rap and this rap really baffled me. Firstly why would a grown man be following a school bus?! AM I the only one seeing the potentially paedophile-like nature of this?? Not only that is disturbing, but the lyrics to his rap are so bad that I can’t believe that an adult actually wrote it. 

The whole video hints to the fact that Rebecca’s parents are most-likely stinking rich and bored and thus pushed her into doing this video…

BUT there is another side to the story, even though it is most-likely the worst song ever written* so many LOVE it due to the comic aspect of it! Seriously it is hilarious to watch and the brilliant spoofs and cult references that have emerged, because of it have been truly amazing. Katy Perry’s little homage to Rebecca Black in her music video for “Last Friday Night” is proof of that…

Benedict Townsend from the Youtube comedy duo “CupofTeam” did the funniest analysis of the Friday video and his video actually inspired me write this blog. Please go check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz0F5q5XBx0

(*This blog post was written before I even heard about Jenna Rose and her terrible song “”My Jeans” and I must admit that any Jenna Rose song is ten times worse than “Friday” , but not as entertaining or worth writing about.)

Another day at the Office...

So I have been really bored lately, when I should have been studing, and have acquired The Office Seasons 1 to 7 and I have been watching them diligently every time I got bored. The Office is such an amazing show and it’s dry humour has been making me laugh so loud in my room that I think the people who live around me must think that I'm insane or something... 

I think the Office is like a fine wine; improves with age, because the first season feels slightly uncomfortable and offensive, but from then on it gain momentum and has been consistently entertaining. The Office is made up of numerous brilliant features and there are many different factors involved in making it so hilarious. I have broken down the show’s most important features into five parts from the least important to the most important.

Firstly let’s start with the extra characters. Those behind the scenes character, like Stanley, Kevin, Oscar, Meredith, Kelly, Phillus and especially Darryl have some truly amazing moments. I really can’t state how many times they will do something subtly funny! Their interactions with Michael and each other are soooo classic! (Like the time Michael kissed newly-outed Oscar.)

Secondly: Michael!  So many times I’ve had to look away as Michael makes a fool of himself or when he insults or offends someone in the office and his treatment of Toby gets quite disgusting and disturbing after a while, but Michael is the life-blood of the show! His over-exaggeration of emotion is the thing that gets me every time! And, shame, he does have his moments. He also does seem to care too much… Steve Carell is prefect for the job!

Thirdly Andy Bernard…The Nard-Dog! Sure Andy only entered the show in the around Season 3, but Ed Helms is a great addition to the cast!  Those who have seen The Hangover know that any time Ed Helms begins to sing then it is pure genius. He may have some hectic anger issues which often erupt rapidly out of him, but that fact that he really tries to be a good guy and fails is painfully delicious to watch.

Next I have to talk about Ryan! From the beginning for the show I have, like Michael, had a crush on Ryan! Truth be told in the beginning you feel sorry for Ryan, then you hate him and then you love him again and it’s been amazing to watch his process through the years, because by Season 7 he really has the geek chic, badass yuppie look down!

Of course the legendary Dwight K.Schrute gives the show some of its best moments. Dwight is a delusional, paranoid and intense beet farmer/competitive paper salesman who doesn’t seem to understand social interactions. Dwight has harassed and manipulated almost every character in the show and even though he’s disjointed loyalty to Michael is confusing and disturbing Dwight still manages to gives us many laughs.

Lastly I wouldn’t even think about mentioning The Office if I didn’t talk about Pam and Jim! <3 The flirty and longing looks between the two of them in the beginning on the show was driving me crazy. From the first moment they pulled a prank on Dwight together you knew that they were meant to be together. Pam and Jim had many factors playing against them, but despite all those things they still ended up together. Not forgetting the most romantic wedding ever and a really adorable baby! Jim, Pam and CeeCee are the ultimate white-picket fence family!

So all the Seventh season of the Office end so does Steve Carrels time with the Office. It’s a real shame to see him go and Will Farrel will never be able to live up to his legacy, but hopefully the rest will still keep us entertained…

Back to another day at the office

Celebrity: Is it a celebration?

I really don’t understand why some people who act as if celebrities have personally offended them. Seriously making claims on the internet that you think Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus should die is not a joke. Just because you don’t like someone’s music or acting style does not mean that that they deserve to be beaten up or be killed.  I don’t think the death of any person is funny no matter how much I dislike them.

Celebrity Worship Syndrome is becoming a serious problem and there are so many stalkers out there that it’s kind of insane. Look at that guy who loved John Lennon so much that he had to kill him!  It’s just crazy! People should be realistic about celebrities. They are not gods who deserve to be worshipped. I know I sound hypocritical since I talk about celebrities all the time, but I see appreciate celebrities for the contribution to the entertainment world and I would honestly not scream or faint if I saw one of my favourite actors or musicians. I would freak out a little and maybe get nervous to talk to them, but I would still respect them and their privacy.

Some people struggle to distance themselves from these celebrities, because they struggle to realize that those people aren’t the same as their public personas. They are human too. Actors are only playing a part; they aren’t the characters they play.  People need to realize this…Pisses me off… it makes me feel weird about having a normal love for celebrities…

John Green, as ussual, said it the best:

Horatio...

This demotivational poster combines two of my favourite things: CSI and Shakespeare...

Watchdog Entertainment

While researching CSI on the internet (and by researching I mean downloading pictures of Eric Szmanda a.k.a. Greg Sanders) I made a shocking discovery! I came across the Parents Television Council! Shudder* “What fresh hell is this?”

Apparently a group of parents were really bored one day and instead of restricting what their own children were watching they decided to actively campaign against EVERYTHING in today’s modern entertainment world.

Firstly I get what they intended to do, but you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and this kind of this seems kind of sick. The world is a rough place and life is hard- there is no denying that and at some point all children will know that. My parents knew that I was too young to watch certain programs and when they thought I was old enough I was allowed to watch what I wanted to. I promise you it hasn’t negatively affected me.  I have the ability to know that when I watch something on TV that, that show that I am watching is fake. I know that it is fake blood and that the injured or murdered actor or actress will simply get up and go to lunch after that shot. I know that it’s all fake and an act and thus it doesn’t affect me.

People have fought and died so that our media would not censored and these PTC people are actually campaign to hide certain information from their children. I get that you don’t want your child exposed to violence and indecency, but where do you draw the line? What is going to happen to the child when by the time they are 18 they have been so coddled that they won’t be able to function in the outside world?

I’m not promoting that children be exposed to violence or explicit sex, but it individual parents responsibilities to turn off the TV or change the channel to ensure that what their children are watching is appropriate for them. Why ruin it for the rest of us? I know that I would never let my 7-year-old cousin watch Supernatural with us so I don’t watch it when she is around and thus I sit though hours of Barney at ease. Simple as that…

The PTC’s website photo looks like they want you to join some kind of cult with them or something. They even cal themselves the welcome CLAN! I am truly disturbed by this weird control they have over everyone. This is the real world and we live in an age where we are lucky to be exposed to these things ONLY via the entertainment world. In the past children would have seen a lot worse…

I think I’ll go watch some CSI-which was, by the way, voted the most indecent show on TV by the PTC- and then I’ll sleep peacefully knowing that I have the power to choose what I am exposed to and what I can handle in my life. Screw you PTC…

CSI and it's spin-offs

Yes, I'm still on the CSI thing...

CSI: Miami is my least favourite in the CSI trilogy, but this is mainly, because of its largely brighter tone and it’s too crazy, unrealistic plots. The other two are much darker, but due to Miami more festive atmosphere the show needed a head detective who could be serious and yet be mockingly ridiculous at the same time. Cue Horatio Cane. Even people who haven’t seen CSI: Miami know about Horatio’s infamous sun-glasses trick. These days I don’t see anyone remove their sun-glasses without impersonating Horatio with an added cheesy one-liner. CSI: Miami has many hot characters like Eric and newbie Jesse, but my heart belongs to Ryan Wolfe! Ryan may have his faults, but I love his tenacious nature, OCD tendencies, intensity and cute humour. From the first moment his handsome face stepped in the crime scene I was hooked and I freaked out like the rest of the fans when he was shot with a nail gun and then later when he was fired! So there I was cheering on his reinstatement and hoping desperately at they would finally get him a love interest…

CSI: New York is infamously known as the most gruesome of the three, but, hey, if you are playing with stereotype, New York is pretty dangerous place. And a dangerous place needs a badass head detective and that’s where Mac Taylor comes in. Mac is a lot darker and more intense than Horatio, but he knows how to come down hard on crime, with his sharp eye and serious attitude. CSI: New York may be dark, but it also played host to one of the greatest love stories in CSI history. Early on sparks flew between Danny and Lindsay and we tracked their love story between all the blood and gory.  Now to my lab geek love! I already had a crush on A.J Buckley when starred in Supernatural, but his role as Adam Ross is so cute and nerdy and awesome! You would think that my crush would be a lab geek, but in CSI: New York the Don Flack the one that caught my eye! A Tough gentleman with a kickass suit and soft heart! A true modern day knight and those eyes!

We all know that the original is the always the best and CSI: Las Vegas is proof of that. This team started the whole thing thus naturally my loyalty will lie with them. The legendary Gil Grissom is the head detective of this team. His interests in bugs might be a bit strange and his love for a fellow CSI might be really bizarre, but Grissom is the best in his field. William Peterson is a stunning actor and it’s a shame he retired around the 10^th season, but his replacement Ray Langford is still cool, I guess. Anyway, Catherine Willows is my hero! I wanna be as hard-core and kick-ass as her one day! Now I get to my ultimate geek obsession…Greg Sanders! Greg would play loud rock music in the lab, joke around with his co-workers, wear strange costumes around the lab and constantly act like he is the biggest ladies’ man around. I cried like baby when he was beaten up in Season 7! But he risked his life to save someone else and that says a lot about him!  Later on in the series, when he gets promoted, he becomes more serious, but still retains that Greg-like charm. What a cutie... 

“One man’s garbage is another man’s evidence pile.”