pinksardonic

Hey all..What's the best vacation you've ever been on?My favorite was our week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Outer Banks are a small strip of island off the east coast of NC. It's beachy and great! My mom, her boyfriend, my 3 friends and I all went for 4th of July week a few years ago. I loved it. We've gone back to the same house every year since. It's always the highlight of my summer.I also like travelling in Europe. Prague, Vienna, and Copenhagen were the most beautiful cities, I think. I love how traditional and even... romantic they are. The atmosphere in those cities is so unlike anything else.

My favorite book is called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. It's about the author's time in Savannah, Georgia exploring the city and meeting interesting people. Berendt makes friends with one of Savannah's most notable people, Jim Williams, and later becomes his confidant when Williams is accused of murder. This is 100% real, yet it reads like a brilliant work of fiction. I can't remember how many times I've read it, but every time it gets better. I liked the book so much that my mom and I went on vacation to Savannah. We followed the 'official' tour following Berendt's travels. It's funny because in Savannah, Midnight.. has become known simply as 'The Book'. There are giftshops, tours, even a coffeehouse geared for fans of the book. Aside from that, I really like Margaret Atwood's novels. I had to read The Handmaid's Tale for senior english, but it was excellent. Alias Grace, too is a wonderful book. John Jakes has a great series called 'The Kent Chronicles.' My mom read the series when she was a teenager and passed her copies on to me.

have you never heard of Isaac Asimov, possibly THE greatest science fiction writer of our time!? Asimov has written whole series based on the idea of the use of robots in our future societies! In the Robot Novels alone, there are 4 books.. Foundation Novels - 7 books, along with several books written with Robert Silverberg. No offense, but I'm a bit dumbfounded. How have you not heard of Isaac Asimov? I'm not a science fiction nut, but I'm still plenty familiar. And just for the record.... I, Robot was published in 1950. Just a few years before The Matrix

Has anybody read the surprisingly popular 9/11 Commission Reports?I've just started it and it's extremely intersting.Anyone else have thoughts?

I really like Dashboard Confessional and Sondre Lerche right now.My favorite oldies bands are The Beatles and Pink Floyd

That's an awful trick!

Since this is Music and Movies, I thought it might be interesting to ask: What concerts have you seen this summer, or are going to see soon? I've seen Dashboard Confessional, Jet, Dave Matthews, The Get Up Kids, Dream Theater I'm going to see Maroon 5, Sarah McLaughlan, Modest Mouse, and Dashboard Confessional (again.. hehe)

I think you forgot Spiderman-2 which is grossing money like whoa and set plenty of records. Also currents and contenders... De-Lovely (bio-pic of cole porter), The Terminal, DodgeballI disagree with 80 Days. It was terrible. The only thing comic about that movie was it's box-office profit.Plus, it's unfair to judge movies this early. It's still July. You have movies like The Village, Catwoman, and Polar Express coming out before the end of the year.

Guys.. just saw it and it's amazing.Definitely go see it!Classic Shyamalan flick, but so worth it.

Greenwich, Connecticut USA

I'm going to see M. Night Shyamalan's The Village in a matter of hours. Has anyone seen it yet, and what did you think?

Now that you mention it.... I do find a lot of stereotypes within the US.I'm from Connecticut, Fairfield County to be exact and my town has the richest per capita area code in the nation. (I'm sorry, not to be a braggart or anything) When I go anywhere else.. even to places within New England, I'm confronted with the stereotype of rich wasp. People think that our life resembles that of Ally and Jamie from the MTV show 'Rich Girls' or even that we're all shallow like 'Simple Life' girls Paris and Nicole. We're just ordinary people!!!! lol...

I own all three movies and I've seen them so many times.. but they don't compare to the books. I like Fellowship, but I felt it moved a bit slow, but I guess that's only because it had to give all the background stuff (which was mostly omitted in the movie). I think my favorited, also, was Two Towers with it being in the true heart of the action. Two Towers is also my favorite movie. On the special DVD, there's a section about how Jackson and the film makers had the task of transitioning the book to a movie and their process. There's this beautiful part where they examine all the drawings from Tolkien.. the original illustrations... and how they created environments from that. Amazing!

Fox is pretty awful, but I'm glad Family Guy is coming back!I watch adult swim all the time. I love Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab2021.The DVDs are hilarious!

Gavin Degraw is awesome, I just got his album! I think my all-time favorite songs are ***For No One The Beatles Semi-Charmed Life Third Eye Blind Magic Carpet Ride Steppenwolf Luck Be a Lady Guys and Dolls

I'm a classical musian.Clarinet and Oboe. I've played in many concert bands, orchestras, and musical productions for my school.I've done community theater (pit orchestra) for 5 years, and I was involved in a local youth symphony for 6 years.I wish I could play guitar and piano.... I'm so bad at both!

I thought it might be interesting to see what people think about America.I've found through my travels to Europe and the Near East, people look at Americans as fat, rude, and abraisive. Especially in France (for the record, I love France.. and its people, my best friend is half French), people seem very put off by us. Even if we make an attempt to speak the language, they get pretty pissed off when your first question is 'do you speak english?'I'd like to say that not all Americans are rude and pushy, we're just used to getting what we want. Yes, we work for things, but it seems like it's a trifle easier here than other places. We're used to being up front about most things and voicing our opinions is standard operating procedure. Besides that.. I find we're mostly a friendly people who like to chat and make make friends and put people at ease.Whenever I'm abroad, I try to make myself a little extra friendly towards others and try to keep my boisterous-ness toned down. It may be silly, but it makes me feel like I'm doing my part to push away the 'studid American' stereotype.What do you think? Do you find most Americans fit the stereotype? I promise I won't be offended if you say yes.. hehe

I like school here in the US..I just graduated high school (secondary) and I'm so glad to be rid of it.Our town had school start at 7:25am and went til 2:05pmMy high school had 7 class periods, plus 20 minutes for lunch.We had certain requirements for graduation:4 years english3 years math3 years science2 years foreign language2 years fine arts electives2 semesters health2 semesters phys. ed.

I was very serious about music when I was in high school, so I thought that I wanted to be a musician.Right now, I'm looking to International Relations/Politics... focus on Economics. It's kind of strange, but after watching many hours of 'The West Wing,' I got inspired. I looked into the kinds of jobs that characters such as Josh Lyman and Leo McGarry have, and they seem like interesting career choices. I'm not saying I'm as naive to think I could get a senior staff position in the White House, but other jobs with those skills seem challenging and rewarding.

ultimate frisbee is the best!it's like soccer... with a frisbee.Basically you have two teams starting opposite their goal area. One team flings the frisbee as far toward the other team as they can. The other team has to catch it and then try to make their way toward their goal line. If anybody drops the frisbee, the other team gets it.It may sound a little boring, but it's actually quite fun and VERY high-energy.We just started our own league here in Stamford.

haha.. that's great

I agree about LOTR.. they really never get old. I think the series has such an enduring quality because it's so far removed from any world we're used to.

I just got done watching Rear Window, the Alfred Hitchcock movie. It's excellent. Probably my favorite of his movies. 9/10I also saw Spiderman 2 this week. AMAZING! It was much better than the first. 10/10

I, Robot was a good movie I will concede. But it had nothing to do with the Isaac Asimov book by the same name.The book was much more indepth, with Susan Calvin giving an interview about the evolution of the different kinds of robots. Robots that could think for themselves, have other robots operating under them, robots seeming to replace humans... etc. It was an interesting glimpse into our near-future.The movie explores the murder of one of the pioneers in the world of robotics, Alfred Lanning. Through a robot-suspect Smith's character discovers what really goes on inside the US Robotics corporation. He does discover the murderer, but it has an exciting twist that is pleasantly surprising as the secondary story. The movie does a great job with special effects and digitals, definitely one to see this summer.

I think it's dumb for people to be so shocked at this movie. It's fast food. Of course the guy is going to gain massive amounts of weight.I think that yes, McDonald's and other fast food places should be able to sell their food. If people are dumb enough not to realize that this isn't the healthiest thing for you, then you deserve to get fat.The industry is trying to redeem themselves, however, by offering so-called 'lo carb' foods or healthy salads. Not to say that this will solve the fat problem, but it is a step in the right direction