Module #2

Ah! I have been incredibly busy lately with school and basketball and so forth, but here I am, finally getting to Module Number Two...late. :)

I LOVE books! My mother is a librarian, which gives me the advantage of reading new books early, AND an at-home book critic! My favorite type of book is one set in a different country. I love the Khaled Hosseini books (Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns), and those written by Jhumpa Lahiri ( The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies). The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad and Three Cups of Tea, are other well-known foreign books that I have enjoyed. But I also just recently found a book that I hadn't heard about before that fit right in with my foreign book criteria; The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz ( Nobel Peace prize for literature winner in 1988). I loved it! It was thick, and sometimes really hard to slog through, but well worth it in the end! I also devour Ernest Hemingway books, I'm currently reading Islands in the Stream, which is a book put together by his wife post Hemingway's death. I love poetry as well, especially Grace Paley poems. A year before Grace's death I had the great honor to hear her read some of her poems at a Mother's Day Celebration in my town. I'm friends with her grandson, so I then met Grace face-to-face, which, in retrospect, makes me feel really lucky! I also am a huge, huge fan of the Harry Potter series. I can't count how many times I've re-read all seven books!
I try to read my local newspaper, The Valley News, everyday. I -as I mentioned in my first post- am an avid reader of The New Yorker, and probably always will be! I keep up with the The New York Times online. When I'm not looking for current events and ground breaking news, I turn to Nylon magazine, or The Rolling Stone. I also love skiing, so Backcountry is a favorite magazine of mine.









Music is one of my passions! It's such a social thing, that's probably what I like about it the most. Playing together in a group is one obvious way music is social, but also that exchange of "Hey, whatcha listening to?" "Oh this new band, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons", can spark great conversation. I am always on the look out for new bands. There is this great podcast, KEXP Free Songs, which gives you a new, underground song each day. That's where I find about 60% of the music on my ipod. New music is exciting, but I also faithfully listen to the "classics". Eric Clapton, The Who, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Allman Brothers, Miles Davies, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen. My absolute favorite music comes from Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead and The Beatles. Hands down.

This is music video for the song "Art" by Tanya Davis, an artist I like a lot.



I don't watch that much television( just don't have the time), but when I do watch TV my favorite shows are The Office, Chuck, Flight of the Conchords, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Even though Monty Python is only re-runs on BBC now, its my all-time favorite show. I really enjoy any show that makes me laugh!

This is a classic Monty Python sketch. Ignore the laughing audience. :)



I use video games even less then I watch television, so my favorite games are the only two I've used; Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. These are the BEST though, because you move to play them, instead of the stereotypical type of video game with hand-held game controllers used on the couch.

I use my computer all the time- it's one of the most inescapable tools of our time. I use my laptop for schoolwork, power point presentations, Internet, managing all my photos, and as a music and DVD player. In a normal week, I am on the computer at least once everyday. This sometimes frightens me, because its such large amount of screen time, but I also realize that computers are essential, and aren't going to disappear anytime soon- and are incredibly helpful when used the right way.

Most of the time I am on the computer it is to use the internet. Research for papers, email, Facebook, music searching, Youtube watching, article reading, blogging (now!), and the time-wasting web surfing are all reasons I am on the internet for such long periods of time. The Internet is a vast, amazing source of knowledge and information. But it can also be overwhelming, and I'm not always sure I use it to its full advantage.
This is just a video I found on Youtube. Its 8 minutes long, so I understand why you'd not want to watch the whole thing, but it is sort of enlightening once you get into it.




Ranking my Media Preferences:
1. Magazines/Newspapers
2.Music
3.Books
4. Internet
5.Computers
6.Television
7. Video Games