Al Gore Is My Hero!

I LOVE Al Gore, and I got to go see him talk about his new book The Assault On Reason tonight!! It was at GWU's Lisner Auditorium and was sponsored by the bookstore Politics and Prose. It was awesome! I agreed with everything Al Gore said, he just makes so much sense, unlike most politicians these days. Some jerk stood up and started yelling things out at the top of his lungs during the Q&A session. Stuff with about as much credibility as "Al Gore smothers babies!" Grr. Luckily, he was escorted out by security people, but he made me really angry. Anyways, since we had to leave after my parents got home from work, we ended up getting there right before it started and thus were in the last row. I was worried that since we were so far back, I wouldn't be able to get the book signed or get to say anything to him (They were calling people up by rows.) But Gore, as super awesome as he is, signed every single person's book. So I actually got to meet him! SQUEE!! Basically, I said "Thank you for everything you do," and he responded "Thank you! Thats so sweet! Thanks for coming out tonight," to which I responded "No problem." It was all of two seconds long, but it's something I can cross off my "Things To Do Before I Die" list, which consequently doesn't yet exist.

Some pictures for your enjoyment:

In My Official Capacity...

Vote for them at Podcast Alley!

Barn Kittens

CAUTION: Adorable Content:



To watch the videos, go here:

Barn Kitties, etc

"Maybe Dumbledore Saved His Life..."

With some help from my mom, I've just thought of a theory about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was discussing with my parents why Dumbledore trusted Snape and whether or not Snape is a good guy. My mom suggested that maybe Dumbledore saved Snape's life.

This led me to think that if Dumbledore did save his life, then Snape would have a life debt to him. This would mean that there wouldn't need to have been an unbreakable vow between them in order for Snape to do something that Dumbledore wanted, perhaps to kill him. This is important because if Dumbledore always trusted Snape, as he said he did repeatedly, then he would not have made an unbreakable vow with him. Unbreakable vows are only really useful as a way to force somebody to do something that you don't trust them to do.

Maybe Dumbledore trusts Snape because he knows that Snape has a life debt to him, and that Snape feels compelled to honor his life debts, such as he did by trying to save Harry in an attempt to even his life debt with his father, James. And thus MAYBE, when Dumbledore speaks of the usefulness of life debts to Harry, he is referring not only to Peter Pettigrew's debt, but also to Snape's life debt to him, which he knows will come in handy in the future.

In POA, Dumbledore says to Harry: "When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them... and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter." He probably wouldn't want Snape, whom he sees as his servant and spy, to be in the debt of Dumbledore either. He goes on to say, "This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry." The deep, impenetrable nature of life debts is thus very similar to the nature of unbreakable vows.

I don't know if anyone has come up with this before, but I've listened to almost all the episodes of Pottercast and Mugglecast and I don't recall ever hearing anything about it.

Let me know what you think!

Random Ponderings

Sometimes when I say something and nobody responds, after a few seconds I start to wonder if I actually did say anything or if I just thought about it. Is that really weird? I guess that is why I like blogging, because I can look back and know exactly what I said (AND have proof that I said it).

Well, back to listening to the fourth Harry Potter AudioBook!

I Heart Johnny Depp

I love Johnny Depp...I mean, don't we all? But I think that he has ruined all my future relationship prospects because no other man will ever be as gorgeous as he is:



He's so good looking, he's even hot when he's all pasty and has scissors for hands...I'd let him maul me anyday, haha...That being said, I can't wait to see Pirates 3, although I'm not looking forward to the crowds. Thank God I don't work at the movie theatre anymore!

Hair and a Concert Dilemma

I've been thinking about getting a slightly different haircut for the summer. I saw Keira Knightley on E!News yesterday and I loved her hair:







What do you think? It's not terribly different from the way my hair is now...

Anyways, I have a bit of a dilemma. I am already planning to go and see Harry and the Potters at 3pm on June 3rd because they're playing at my library (The new Germantown Library in Germantown, MD)! However, my friend has just informed me that Keaton Simons is playing at Austin Grill in Baltimore on June 3rd at 7:30. I really want to go to that concert, too, but I don't know if I'd be able to get there in time after the HatP show.

*sigh*

Whatever shall I do?

Should I Get This Tattoo?

This is not a REAL tattoo, although the fact that its oddly colored and papery should make that pretty obvious. This is the tattoo I am considering getting this summer while I'm studying abroad, although I might get it a little bit smaller. I looked at tattoo parlours in Brighton, and this one looks the most promising.



What do you think?

Adorable Cat/Kitten Cuddles!

This adorableness is why I love my cats (and all cats in general):



The black cat is Sophie, who was born in November. The mostly white cat is Ace, who is almost 12 years old.

In completely unrelated news, here are some pictures of me and one of me with Shannon, my best friend.

Zoo and Concert Pictures (Slightly Delayed)

Now that the craziness of the semester is over, I finally had time to upload the pictures that were on my camera!

These are pictures from when I went to the National Zoo with my family for my mom's birthday:



These are pictures from last Friday when I saw Kill the Alarm and Shane Hines and the Trance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA:



Enjoy!

Now You Can Stare Into The Sun Without Going Blind!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day was really a video of the sun, and I find it fascinating.

Here is a screencap from the video:



Note the scale of the Earth compared to just part of the Sun. Its gotta make you think of how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, and how amazing it is that our planet ever developed life.

I highly recommend the book Lonely Planets that touches on some of this stuff. In my "Books You Should Read" section, I have a link to the page where you can buy it on Amazon.com, if anyone is interested.

Enjoy!

Hanson Makes Me Feel Like I'm Socially Retarded

This is from the "Personal Lives" section of the Wikipedia entry for Hanson:

Oldest brother Isaac married his girlfriend of three years Nicole Summer Dufresne (born November 25, 1983) of Panama City, Florida, on September 30, 2006 in the gardens of The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma in front of 300 guests. Isaac and his wife welcomed their first child, a son named Clarke Everett Hanson, on April 3rd, 2007.

On June 8, 2002, middle brother Taylor married his girlfriend of two years, Natalie Anne Bryant (born December 28, 1983). The ceremony was held at the Ida Cason Memorial Chapel of Callaway Gardens, located in Pine Mountain, Georgia. The couple has three children, Jordan Ezra Hanson (born October 31, 2002), Penelope Anne Hanson (born April 19, 2005), and River Samuel Hanson (born September 4, 2006).

Youngest brother Zac married his girlfriend of five years, Kathryn Rebecca Tucker (born November 29, 1983), on June 3, 2006 at a private ceremony held at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Isn't that rediculous? They're around my age, and not only do they have a gazillion awesome albums out, but they've done all this stuff in their personal life...And I haven't even graduated from college yet.

*Sigh*

Harry Potter & Post Secret

I myself have thought on several occasions that I hope nothing happens to me before the last Harry Potter book comes out, although I don't know why I think something would...

I highly recommend the PostSecret books and blog. They're fascinating AND the guy who started it is from my area.

***Side Note***

I found this quote in Dave Barry's Blog:

“Where does the butt end and the anus begin?” Pardee asked. “The buttocks is just the bell end of the trumpet, and I don’t think that you guys, for constitutional reasons, want to go there.”

Oh, the hilarity!

Yay Dark Matter!

This was in the Washington Post this morning and, being an astronomy dork, I found it fascinating:

Ring of Dark Matter Found Around a Galaxy



Scientists believe they have found a ring of mysterious dark matter surrounding a distant galaxy -- a potential breakthrough in identifying the most widely distributed but least understood particles in the universe.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers identified the ghostly ring that they said was created by the long-ago collision of two galaxy clusters. The dark matter itself was not visible -- it does not shine or reflect light -- but it left a distinct "footprint" in the shapes of background galaxies. Although the presence of dark matter has been detected before, it has always been far more interspersed among the hot gases and galaxies that make up galaxy clusters.

"This is the strongest evidence so far for the existence of dark matter," said astronomer M. James Jee of Johns Hopkins University. He likened dark matter to the wind -- which we cannot see except through its effects on other objects.

Astronomers have long theorized the existence of the invisible substance because without its mass, galaxy clusters would not have sufficient gravity to keep from flying apart.

The ring is huge, measuring 2.6 million light-years across. It was found in a galaxy cluster 5 billion light-years from Earth. Jee said he was first annoyed when he saw the ring because he assumed it was a distortion or artifact. It took months of checking and rechecking before his team became convinced that the ring was actually a manifestation of dark matter.

Potter Puppet Pals, etc.

I mentioned Potter Puppet Pals in the last post, as you may recall. They have a new video up:



Its hi-freakin'-larious!

Am I the only person obsessed with googleReader? Because I just can't get enough of it. I added so many blogs to it today, there's no way I'll ever get through all of them. I may just mark them all as read and just read the new ones that are posted because -- seriously -- its rediculous. Speaking of googleReader, if anyone that is reading this blog has their own blog, I'd love to read it. Leave me the URL or the RSS in the comments and I'll be sure to look at it.

Finally, I added a picture to the bottom of my posts that I got from the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) blog. It is a black and white image of the milky way over the desert...Enjoy!

Harry Potter International Trailer

It makes me so happy that this comes out a day earlier in the UK (July 12 vs. July 13), yet sad because my favorite character dies. *tear*

Songs That Make Me Happy

Maroon 5: I love you, but...

What the hell is up with Maroon 5's new cd? I just finished watching them on SNL. Not only did they not sound particularly like Maroon 5, but Adam Levine didn't even seem like he was trying that hard.

Maroon 5 is supposed to be a rock band: they were funky and somewhat pop-ish, but they were still a rock band. They have been even since they were Kara's Flowers. But from what I've heard of this cd, its completely pop -- and not even particularly good pop. It doesn't even sound like a band anymore: it sounds like Adam Levine singing supposedly "sexy" lyrics over assorted 80s synthesizer sounds.

I have to say, I had high hopes for this cd, but so far its pretty disappointing. I preordered the cd, so I guess I'm stuck with it -- maybe it'll grow on me.

Ah, English Major Humor!

In my English 311 (English Lit. from 1600-1800), I learned that the author Henry Fielding was also a justice of the peace, and once issued a warrant for the arrest of Colley Cibber for murdering the English language...you gotta love that!

That just makes me wanna read Colley Cibber. But I have to finish re-reading the Harry Potter books first. If anyone else wants to beat me to it, his complete works are on googleBooks

My REAL First Post

Hey everyone! Or shall I say, hey noone, because nobody knows my blog exists yet! Anyways, its pretty much in its final stages of creation, so I thought I would go ahead and post.

One of my main reasons for starting this blog is to keep in touch with people while I study abroad this summer and to keep people informed about what I'm up to. Its not going to be just about that, though -- I'm going to try to keep it going even when my life isn't fantastically interesting.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love spreading the word about things that I am passionate about -- certain bands, books, movies, causes, etc -- and I'm going to use my blog to do that as well. I'll try to recommend a band, or at least a song, each time I post, but I can't make any promises!

So if you're interested in me, my life, or the things that I think you should be interested in, then this is the blog for you!

Lets See How This Works...

This is my first post on my new blog...Not really saying much yet because I still have to work out some kinks. Stay tuned!