Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Thoughts And Points: February 2012

I should start off by apologizing for the lack of submissions for my blog. I have not found the quality time to submit to my blog, due to the heavy load I have had when it came to what life has to offer. Even in my spare time, I have been using that to hone my skills of reading literature and brainstorming for my own fiction writing. Due to this occupation, I have had little time to come up with just the right blogging topics.

For this post, I am doing another "Thoughts And Points," which means I will simply jot down some random topics and discuss them. These are brief posts that become wrapped up into one. We shall now begin...

The Last Two Episodes Of Shark Tank


As I write this post, I saw one episode, but not the other. I will definitely catch up on the newest episode online. It's brilliant how the advancement of the Internet is able to help me out in this situation. Anyway, the episode I watched featured a loud couple from New Jersey (feeding in to the New Jersey stereotype as to why people from New Jersey are worse than everybody else in the country) who had this idea for a lid that stays on the garbage can (called "The Last Lid") and they pitched a deal with Daymond John. Two partners came up with a line of gourmet tea in which Kevin O'Leary made an offer to buy. This is his first successful deal of the season. At the end of the episode, a teenage girl, her younger sister, and their mom came up with a jewelry line in which three sharks jumped in to take a piece of... Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.

I could honesty say that if this show is renewed with a fourth season (which it SHOULD), then Lori Greiner should and will likely receive a contract extension. Not only for more episodes, but possibly for most of or the entire season. Mark Cuban had three memorable appearances in season two and is now on every show for season three. Lori Greiner has had memorable appearances of her own, proving to be slick, clever, and clear on her offers. Barbara Corcoran does demonstrate a more aggressive foil to Kevin O'Leary than Greiner, who is the heart of the show. Without him, the show would clearly not be the same.

American Idol Will Have A Whitney Houston Night


I am almost positive that American Idol will most definitely have a week in which the contestants sing music from the late Whitney Houston. Her death has shook the world of pop culture, though the fact she took plenty of drugs means that this death couldn't really be considered shocking. Her death flooded the news, her future was private, but widely discussed, and the coverage is beyond belief... the biggest coverage on a celebrity death since Michael Jackson. Then again, death's of those caliber then to really stick out. Elvis Presley's death outshadowed Groucho Marx's (Groucho died three days after Elvis) and Kurt Cobain's death coverage continued to flow into the coverage of Richard Nixon's. It's very unfortunate, but these controversial sudden death's (if you could call it that based on their lifestyles) tend to lead to heavy coverage.

On American Idol, Whitney Houston's music has been covered time and time again. The judges have also looked up to her as a musical icon, especially Randy Jackson. I will be extremely shocked if the show does not have a night in which her music is covered.

Also, the Michael Jackson night of the show aired a few months before his death. After he died, the show reaired the episode in order to pay tribute. For Whitney Houston night on Idol, there will be a heavy amount of paying tribute to the singer that could go to the extent of blowing steam up the backside.

Davy Jones's Death


Talk about a shocking death, the death of Davy Jones was extremely shocking when I heard about it. He always had a positive personality and he was one of the last people I would see dying a sudden death. He died from a heart attack on Leap Day 2012 at the age of 66. Heart attacks could very well be sudden if you don't know the signs, but in some cases nothing could be done.

Jones was probably the most famous member of the sixties bubblegum group "The Monkees," which also featured Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith (who became set for life with his mother's invention of liquid paper aka. White Out, and after leaving the group did not return). "Daydream Believer" proved to be his most memorable hit with the group, but he also led with songs such as "Valleri" and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." He also had a solo career and reunions with Dolenz and Tork.

His death came really soon and is highly unfortunate.

My Craving For Literature


Recently, I have been broadening my horizons as to what type of reading interests me. I generally collect horror fiction and read this genre, along with books that are either recommended or are highly discussed. At this point, I thought I should get into literature from several genres and countries, which could simply be called World Literature. You name the country, I'm looking into the literature. American literature is also included in the mix.

To me, I follow the dictionary definition of literature, this being "the art of written work." Many people believe literature has to be poetic, a work of Shakespeare, or classical. However, if the work is written, then it's literature. Some literature is better than others, but that can be applied to just about anything and everything.

I'm currently reading 75 Short Masterpieces and am really enjoying it thus far. Two stories that have really stuck out thus far (though I have not completed reading the series just yet) include "The Lottery Ticket" by Ventura Garcia Calderon and "A Wicked Boy" by Anton Chekhov.

Catching Fire And Mockingjay Are Not Really Good Sequels


The Hunger Games was a brilliant novel. I really enjoyed the concept of having a Vietnam War-esque story about teenagers fighting to the death in an annual competition. If they extended the book a bit and created a resolution right then and there, that would have been the best case scenario. Instead, we had two sequels... Catching Fire and Mockingjay. In the first sequel, we get the aftermath of the competition, what happens between competitions, and a twist that forces Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark back into the competition. In the final book in the series, we see a revolt against the Capitol.

At this time, they simply inject the book with ways to set up Katniss, the importance of Katniss's position, the complete setups, and the deaths that are included for the sake of including them. There are also many of events that do not come with very good explanations.

These two books are still in hardcover and still cost $17.99 at regular cost, which could be considered a form of robbery for the book buyer. I would say wait for the price to shrink down to at least half of this, if not, bargain price, in order to make your purchase. I wish the remainder of the series was excellent compared to the first in the series.


These are the Thoughts And Points that are floating through my head. Again, I apologize for the inability to come out with more posts, that's the way things flow. Hopefully these mini-posts filled you up. I'll be sure to post if something floats through my mind and I find the chance to do so up and coming.

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