Leave a Comment to Help UNIECEF

Hey Blogger Buds,
It's Friday. Sorry. I'm just going to take a minute of your time.
For every comment on her post, Mina Khan will donate a dolar to UNICEF, an organization that helps promote literacy.
Please take a second to go leave a comment on her blog post:

Thanksgiving and Literacy from One Writer's Point of View

The Future of Us: A Taylor Swift Parody

Hey Blogger Buds,
Last week, I wrote a review for The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. It's out tomorrow. So. I wrote a song. You may remember As Long As You'll Dine: A Wicked Parody.
I've heard multiple people comment on the Taylor-esque title of the book. Before reading my parody, I suggest you go listen to The Story of Us on YouTube.  There's the official music video. And there are versions with the lyrics.
Sorry for going linkage crazy.
Oh, I almost forgot. Add the book on Goodreads, if you're interested!

If you've never heard Taylor before, you might want to go hear the song once before checking out my parody. You also might want to listen to it again, while you read the parody.

The storyline is a weird one. I didn't really know where I was going when I was writing the song, and it ended up on two sort of connected plotlines. A girl is chatting with her boyfriend and she accidentally lets a typo slip, which simultaneously lets in spam that crashes her computer (a Mac. Sorry, I'm a PC) and ends her relationship.

*I used the one-syllable pronunciation of "meme." ("meem")
So, without further ado...


The Future of Us
TTTO: The Story of Us by Taylor Swift

I used to think one day, there’d be a future for us,
How we’d log on, Facebook instantly,
Tweeple would say, “They’re the lucky ones.”
I used to know My Space was a click beyond yours,
Now I’m searching the web for a username
‘Cause lately I don’t even know what page you’re on.

Oh, a simple web sensation,
Miscommunications lead to fall-out
So many memes that I wish you knew,
So many firewalls and spam’s breaking through.

Now I’m sitting alone with a Starbucks cup and we’re not chatting,
And I’m dying to know if they’re billing you like they’re billing me, meh?
I don’t know what to write, since the typo slipped, and my Mac broke down,
And that future of us looks a lot like an #epicfail.

Next email.

How’d it end up this way?
See me nervously pulling up email and trying to look busy,
And you’re doing your best to not @ me.
I’m starting to think one day I’ll blog the #fail that is us,
How I was losing IE when I saw you vlog,
But you held your mouse like you should’ve held me.

Oh, I’m scared to see the fanbase,
Why’d I stay in cyberspace instead of logging out?
I swear I would “Like” you, but I forgot how,
I’ve never seen frowniesL quite this loud.

Now I’m sitting alone with a Starbucks cup and we’re not chatting,
And I’m dying to know if they’re billing you like they’re billing me, meh?
I don’t know what to write, since the typo slipped and my Mac broke down.
And that future of us looks a lot like an #epicfail.

This is looking like a tumblr tumbling mess,
Of who can write and still Wordpress
But I Liked it better when you were on my site.
The battle’s in your mouse now,
But I would lay my keyboard down
If you send you’d “rather blog than brawl.”

So many memes that you wish I knew,
And The Future of Us will be published soon!!!!

Now I’m sitting alone with a Starbucks cup and we’re not chatting,
And I’m dying to know if they’re billing you like they’re billing me, meh?
I don’t know what to write since the typo slipped and my Mac broke down,
And that future of us looks a lot like an #epicfail, fail, fail.

And we’re not chatting,
And I’m trying to know if they’re billing you like they’re billing me, meh?
I don’t know what to code since the virus slipped, and my Mac went down,
And that future of us looks a lot like an #epicfail.

Shut down.

**I just want to mention that this parody is in no way meant to offend Taylor Swift, her song The Story of Us, or The Future of Us by Asher and Mackler. I'm not trying to infringe on any copyright, either. This parody is for the purpose of publicizing the song and the book, in hopes of spreading them to more people.

I hope you guys enjoyed! Please tell me what you think, and if you want more parodies in the future!

Also, if you have any ideas for other book/song parodies like the two I've already done, please let me know! Either shoot me an email, or leave a comment anywhere on my blog!

The Future of Us comes out tomorrow, Monday November 21st.

Peace and PCs,

Riv

The Future of Us Review

(For those of you who saw this yesterday, sorry! I forgot to schedule it.)
Hey Blogger Buds,
It's been a while since I've put up a review. The Future of of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, is released Monday, November 21st.
Some of you may remember "As Long As You'll Dine: A Wicked Parody" which is a parody of, well, Wicked. As in, Broadway Wicked. I had a lot of fun writing ALAYD, and I've made another parody for The Future of Us. I'll leave you guessing what song I'm parodying. Hint: the genre is pop-country.
Pop back in next Sunday for the parody!
So. On to the review. Summary from Amazon.com

The Future of Us on Goodreads.

Blurby:

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail,his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.
By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

Review:
[Note: This review isn't a full review, like usual. It's just my thoughts. It's kind of scattered, partially coherent and, like my brain, mostly scary.]
[Sorry in advance for the poor review.]

The book was interesting. I felt like the authors were trying to hard with the world building. (Five pages in, and I'm being overwhelmed with "pop" culture references.)
And, although I'm assuming that Jay Asher wrote the chapters from Josh's POV and Carolyn Mackler wrote Emma's chapters, I didn't find a distinction between the two voices, oddly enough. The key to multiple authors is clearly separating the voices, and I wasn't feeling it.
It was a pretty good book though. It wasn't predictable, and the ending was very bittersweet. Upon hearing about the book, I wondered how the authors would do it, and they incorporated Facebook very well.
There were some "inside jokes" for the reader as well. For example, two characters were talking about Ellen DeGeneres. One said that he thinks she might be gay, and the other character replied that it's impossible.

I recommend this book to those who can reminisce about the good ol' days, when computers took FOREVER to turn on, and you had to unplug your phone line to use the internet.
I also recommend it for those goshdarn young-un's, so we they can point and laugh. :)


I give The Future of Us 3 stars. Mediocre book. Not compelling, but interesting.

Pre-order TFoU: Amazon Book Depository Barnes and Noble

Peace and Interwebs,
Riv

My Latest Attempt At Creativity: AKA A NaNoing Tool

Hey Blogger Buds,

I could launch into a whole complicated story about this, but here are the basics, starting with two random and useless facts about me that you were probably fine without knowing.

1:

I have cold fingers. I think it's a genetic thing. Even when it's pretty warm outside, my fingers are cold and a bit stiff. Typing doesn't help get the blood flowing. At all.
2:

I hate gloves. I hatez them. They always make the backs of my hands itch.

3:

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year. (More on that in a later post.)

So, although fingerless gloves are cool, they're completely useless. What I needed instead are gloveless fingers!

And thus, Finger Socks were born.

Yes, as a matter of fact, I am reminding you to DFTBA.

The picture above is of my first set. I use junky $1 gloves and a pair of scissors. I cut these pink ones too short. I also made thumbs, which are decorated, but they're not pictured. I have some stuff I might design these two with, if I don't cut up another pair of gloves.

I've got big dreams for my Finger Socks. First Etsy, then...

THE WORLD!!!

*evil cackle*

*cough*

Source

The Finger Socks are worn when I'm writing, blogging, whatever. They don't have tips, so you can use the keyboard and mouse with ease. :D

So. What do you guys think? If I got the hang of this, would these sell? Am I living in the clouds? (Don't answer that one.)

Peace and Penguins,

Riv

Happy Binary Day!

 Sorry, I couldn't resist.

It's the last Binary Day of the century, which is really sad.

So, this post is being published on November 11th, at 11:11:11 PM.

I just need this in my archives. Sorry.

Here's a joke, since you're probably mad at me:

There are 10 types of people in this world.

Those who know binary, and those who don't.

P3@¢3 & 1s,
®®

A Ton Of Awesomesauceness

Hey Blogger Buds,
Four things on the agenda today. Well, five. Let's start with number five:
School is killing me slowly.
Aaaaaaaaand back to the beginning. I've got some squeeing, some Paying It Forward, and some Early Thanksgiving.

1) This is me gloating. I got some awesome books in the mail in the past week:

• The Dragon's Tooth (Ashtown Burials #1) by N. D. Wilson (thanks to the editor for the gift!)
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (won from Read It, See It. Thanks, Megan!)

And, just today, two of my Top Books of 2011. (These babies were up there with The Iron Queen, Angelfire, and Forever.)

• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (won from Big Honcho Media, through Books Over Boys. Thanks Momo!)(Yay!!)
• The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (bought from B&N. Ecstatic.) (Does anyone know why the book has deckled edges? Is that on purpose?)(Deckled edge is when the sides of the pages aren't even, and look like they were torn out or something.)(Google told me that.)

Okay. I got some awesome books this week. First though, I'm in middle of Hourglass. And then my copy of Inheritance should be coming, and I want to return Hourglass the same day I take out Paolini's. (It's a long story.) I'm really surprised about the lack of buzz there is for this book. A whole 20 hours after the book was released, there were still no reviews on Goodreads. (How long is this book, anyway?)

2) Anyway, that was supposed to be the quickest point. BUT, if you've been TL;DR-ing, pay attention here. This is the important part. You guys know about The Dark Divine, right? Of course you do. It's about werewolves. It's awesome. So Bree Despain has a short eBook story, THE LOST LETTERS OF BROTHER GABRIEL, which is $1.99!!! And that's not even the best part.

If you order The Lost Letter (under 2 bucks!) before June 2012, all proceeds will be donated to "Kids Need To Read." More info on Ms. Despain's blog.

3) You know Beth Revis? Of course you know Beth Revis. And I bet you also know the latest awesomeness of Beth Revis.

AND, I'm here to tell you of one book that I'm thankful for. This book inspired me to start writing. Of course, I could get more specific and credit (read: blame) my fifth grade English teacher for my love of writing. FC, you rock.

BUT, I'm not here to tell you about my teacher. I'm here to tell you about the book that made me write a short story, and then a "novel" about cats. (I quit when I got writer's block, and moved on to "adult" book ideas, like teenage girls running around trying to kill bad guys with old daggers.) I was a little girl who liked animals, and "kitties!!" so I picked up this book (well, I actually picked up the third book. I read out of order. 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 6). And I followed the series obsessively for several years. I still read the series, but not as much. I've kind of grown out of MG.

Do I recommend this book for the majority of my blog readers? No. Do I recommend it for the younger kids in my Blogger Buds life that love animals? Oh yes.

So. What book is this that I'm talking about?

Warriors by Erin Hunter

Rusty starts out as an ordinary house kitten, but his travels deep into the forest involve him in the epic battles of the cat warrior clans who roam (and rule) the wild.
With a new name -- Firepaw -- and a position as a Thunderclan apprentice, our feline hero faces his destiny, struggles with issues of friendship, honor, courage, and betrayal, and learns what it truly means to be a warrior. (Goodreads)

These books are absolutely brilliant. I think meeting one of the authors (the series is a collab, but you can't tell. One person plots, the other two take turns putting pen to paper.

The saga is made up of sets of 6 books. Each book has it's own plot, of course, with a big plot solved at the end of book 6. (But, except for the first series, a new plot is opened up in the end of the last book.)

There are 22 books out, another out in a few weeks, and the final book in the current set (Ome of the Stars) out in 2012 (according to Goodreads.)

There are also companion novels to the series. :)

These books used to be my absolute favorite series. And I blame them for making me write.

So. Now you're wondering why I just raved about this series. I blame (read: credit) Beth Revis. This is why:

4) It's no secret that I love the Iron Fey (see #1). One of my favorite sites to kill time when I should be writing is eLouai.com, specifically their main game. I'm a girl, I admit I like dress-up games. Instead of writing, I spend hours designing my characters. Maybe I'll show you some day.
Anyways. I love the Iron Fey. I was bored.
The product of these two can't be a good thing.
But I love Puck. And...

Two things to note:

~I couldn't find a black bird.

~The wings are there to be ironic.

Okay, that post was way too long. And school will now proceed to kill me even slower. Soooo.......

Peace, Fey, Werewolves, and Cats,

Riv

Ack! I'm a Terrible Person

Hey Blogger Buds,

I'm so, so soooooo sorry for my recent absence. It's been a solid MONTH since my last post.

Blogging has just been hard lately.

I'l start with the obligatory "school is killing me slowly" line. So:

School is killing me slowly.

And then there's the lack of things to post about. Blogging is becoming more of a chore.

And worst of all: I don't even know if anyone's listening. It's a sad, sad time when you get ten times as much spam comments as real ones. And I don't know if anyone actually reads this anymore.

107 followers. Are you guys followers, or just numbers? Do you follow me because I follow you? Or do you follow me because you're genuinely interested in my bad jokes? (And if it's the latter, it's beyond me why you think I'm funny.)

But then there's the latest: NaNoWriMo. I'll try to get up some linkage soon to my NaNo, so you can find me. (I'd love to friend you!)

I can't post much in the near future, but here's some stuff that I plan to have up soon:

NaNoWriMo Obligatory Post

The Future of Us Review

Another Song Parody! ^_^ (I think you can guess what it is.)

My Latest Attempt at Creativity, AKA a NaNoing Tool, AKA Finger Socks (I'm not saying another word. You'll find out soon enough.)

A Pay it Forward type of post, about a book I loved (coming Tuesday, I hope...)

I can make no promises as of late. So sorry guys! There's just stuff going on, and I'm in a slump.

Until next time,

Peace,

~R