DedeCanGomezziblog #1- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the Movie.

Danielle and I both went to see Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief together. As suggested by the movie title, the movie is both long and about a Lightning Thief. I don't feel the need to review it, because everyone who reads this has already read the book, and if you haven't, do I know you? Danielle and I both compiled this list, which spawned the title of this post. Isn't it amazing? Just as a precaution, the following contains spoilers to the movie and the book.

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE BOOK
No Nancy
Grover's black
The action before he gets to the camp was either deleted or went fast
Riptide was gold, and was unnamed. It also never returned to his pocket.
Poseidon and Zeus acted like they never see each other
Persephone has a storyline
No cabins, only tents that aren't arranged.
Annabeth has brown hair and no invisible cap.
No camp half-blood t-shirts.
No Thalia's tree.
No Clarisse.
No Cerberus
No Ares
No Oracle
No Mr. D
No prophecy
You have to click Riptide, not uncap it.
Percy ends up taking his mom from underworld, and leaves Grover
Hades randomly comes to camp
Luke confronts them in the outside world
Annabeth doesn't have much of a crush on Luke
Thier quest is based around achieving pearls to get his mother
Luke has video games
Luke has his own cabin
He gives them a map and a shield with the lightning bolt inside it
They sneak out of the camp
Lotus flowers. Wtf.
*The Lotus Flowers are given to them at the Lotus hotel. Once eaten, they enter a drug-like, Euphoric state and gamble. In this movie, there is no age limits. At anything.
There's no Auntie Em. Just Medusa.
There's a woman who turns to stone in front of them.
Percy has an iPhone
No mist
Annabeth and Percy are on two different teams during Capture the Flag
No music label where Percy meets Hades
Nashville is added to their quest. One of the pearls is hidden in a fake Parthenon.
Mom doesn't work at the candyshop
The shoes were never rigged that Luke gave him and Zeus would let him use them
They're over 16 and can drive
No truck with animals in it
No three furies who attack Percy.

THINGS WE LIKED
Persephone's story line. And ROSARIO DAWSON was amazing.
When Percy and Annabeth dueled it out at the very end.
The music. Really, it's one of my favorite movies in terms of music choices. This include A Little Less Conversation by Elvis, Tik Tok by K$sha, and Just Dance by Lady Gaga. I know how it sounds, but trust me on this.

OUR ADVICE
If you haven't read the books, you should definitely go see it. However, if you have read the books, be aware that the movie differs so much. Don't expect it to be the book you read. We recommend watching this movie. We're glad it came out, just dissapointed that it's basically a different story.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Movie- 4 Stars
Compared to the book- 2.5 Stars
Worth the 9 dollars we paid to see it?- Mostly.

There you have it, our first DedeCanGomezziblog post. This will also be posted on Danielle's blog (Dedecanblog) with mostly the same information. Comment on both of ours! Now.

Chronological Timeline of Events leading up to my Love of Theater.

My first real time being in a theater to watch a show was to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with my mom. We went to see it at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. I can't remember much about it. I don't even know if it was a musical or just a play. I remember that all the grandparents were puppets, though. Some other things I remember: This was I believe in 5th grade. I didn't wear my glasses all that much then. I forgot them at home, and since we had balcony seats, my mom drove back home and got them. I remember getting to the Palace and it was amazing. Marble floors, balconies, box seats, wow. I got some Party Mix as a snack. (They let you have snacks in there.)

Although I enjoyed the experience, I never really got into musical theater until mid-eighth grade. I was looking for songs on Youtube and I remembered Seasons of Love from Rent. I loved this song. I looked at the related videos and saw some names I thought were familiar. I eventually made it through every song in the movie adaptation. After a month or so, I finally got to rent Rent (haha) from Blockbuster. I fell in love. The movie was great, but I thought that was the farthest this love would go. But I was wrong.

I soon discovered the theater version. I bought the DVD, and watched, and awed. It was so brilliant, fantastic, and emotional. The cast was pure perfection, and I realized that I liked this version better than the movie. There were more scenes, more songs, and although more simplistic, a better scenery. (I still don't know why I think that. The set pieces are just a table and chairs.)

Idina Menzel originated the role of Maureen in Rent, as well as reprising the role for the movie version. Danielle had mentioned a few times about Wicked. I never really paid much attention until one magical day. I was on pandora.com on my self-created Rent Radio. No One Mourns the Wicked came up from Wicked. I recognized Idina and decided to ask Danielle a little more about it. I soon downloaded the entire soundtrack and read the book (Wicked is based off of a 300-500 page book. No lie. I read it and loved it.) I later found bootlegs of Wicked. The first full show I saw was with Stephanie J Block and Annaleigh Ashford on Google Video. It was so fantastic. I shared the link with Danielle, and to this day, Wicked is one of our most talked about topics. It's something we both get and enjoy and love. 

One day at a get together, I gave Danielle a huge bag of stuff I wanted her to read and watch. A couple days after her birthday, we met up at Woodland for the wandering party. I gave her her birthday present, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. She really enjoyed it, and we still make references to it on Twitter occasionally. We actually might have been able to see it, but that didn't work out too well. She gave me back my bag of stuff to borrow. In the car I was looking through it to make sure everything was there, and I found a Playbill from Wicked at the Gershwin theater. I gasped loudly, and read it front to back. The cast was Marcie Dodd and Alli Mauzey on Broadway. I called her immediately after to talk about it. She said she went with her dad, and she had an extra Playbill, so she gave it to me. I was, and still am, so thankful. It's on my shrine of favorite things ever. 

Ever since then, my love of theater has grown and grown, and probably won't stop. (Select favorites include 9 to 5, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, and of course Rent and Wicked.) I'm now interested in pursuing acting and singing. I might be going to see Wicked in October on Broadway (fingers crossed, people. Fingers crossed.) I suppose credit for the start of all this goes to Mrs. Coneglio from Community School for teaching Seasons of Love to the chorus... Wow. I never really thought about it that much. Also: My mom, Angela (for the day before my discovery of Rent for reminded me of Seasons of Love at Josh's get together while bouncing the yoga ball) and Danielle for showing me Wicked and the Playbill.

So, yea, this post is one of those "I didn't need to know this" kind of posts. Sorry, but hey, it's my blog. 

Pros and Cons of the Seasons

So, it snowed. And it snowed. And it snowed. Remember back in summer when we wished it would snow? And snow? And snow? Yea, me too. Well I wish it would stop. So here's to you, snow. This Pros and Cons guide of the seasons is dedicated to you, with love.

Spring

March-May

Pros

-Frolicking in the flowers

-A fair temperature allows children to wear t-shirts without being yelled at

-Perfect time for taking photos of your cat sunbathing

-Rain

-Green trees

Cons

-Allergies are at their max

-Ant hills

-Spring cleaning

-Children having the urge to go outside

-Children having the urge to take you outside with them

Summer

June-August

Pros

-Vacation

-No homework

-An unhealthy amount of sleep

-Not having to wear socks

Cons

-Boredom

-Friends leaving you behind to go on vacations

-Increased cases of planter's warts because of flip-flops

-Falling asleep at 3 in the morning

-Waking up at 3 in the afternoon

-Heat exhaustion

-Your cat will run away from you and your body heat

-Electricity bills rise

-No good television

-Everything else

Fall

September-November

Pros

-Pretty colors

-Leaf piles

-Cool, crisp air

-Halloween candy sales

-Really good television

Cons

-Increased cases of Lyme Disease from tic bites

-Raking

-Allergies

-School

Winter

December-February.

Pros

-Gives excuses to stay in bed all day with a Snuggie

-Snow days

-The coldness drives cats towards their owners

-You aren't burned to death

-The unmistakable chimney smell can be detected around every corner

-Sledding

-The Winter Olympics is a great opportunity to scream at the television or applaud at it. See also, the Super Bowl.

-The first snowfall

Cons

-Shoveling

-The coldness drives cats to their owners

-You freeze to death

-Because of insufficient amounts of oxygen, Carbon Monoxide poisoning increases from the incomplete combustion in chimneys

-Sledding

-No new episodes of Glee until April because of the Winter Olympics

-The second snowfall.

-The third snowfall.

And that, Charlie Brown, is what the seasons are all about.

Corn is Good Because it Is

I was going through my Published Writing folder, from back in the day, and some things... Well, some things I really wanted you to see. You'll get it.

Grade One: "Corn is good because it is and my mom makes it."

Grade one: "Me and Joshua like to watch Beetleborgs and Jimmy."

1. I didn't know a Joshua or Jimmy at the time, nor did I like to watch him. Just saying.

2. Beetleborgs was AWESOME.

Grade three: It was a cold day. I took care of a monkey named Snap. Snap and I went outside. Snap and I became close friends. Snap was very cold so I made him a sweater. We called his mom and dad and said "Could snap come over?" And they said "Sher!"

...

Grade one: "One day our class went to a zoo. Next, Mrs. Rousseau said, Look the bear exkaped from its cage, Then, we wen serching for it all day, Finly, we serched for it more and we never found it"

Grade one: I am grabby like an octopus.

Grade Five: I'm not going to share the whole thing, since it's not that interesting, but it was about a fishing trip... gone wrong. Every time I skipped a line to start a new paragraph I did this really obnoxious thing where I'd draw fish and question marks. We also had to do a drawing. Mrs. Seagren would have been so ashamed.

Grade 4: I Am --we did this again in eighth grade. How much I have changed.--

I am an active boy who loves penguins. ((Active? Really?))

I wonder how it is to slide down a mountain on your belly

I hear a penguin squaking

I see penguins watch their babies playing

....
Ok, you get the gist of it. It's all about penguins.

So that whole "I want to be a writer when I grow up" thing... Not looking too good for me. *Sigh*

50 MORE Things

I did 50 things before, but this is a different version. Instead of 50 things in reach, I list 50 interesting facts about me. It'll be hard to think of 50.

1. I knocked over a Clifford: The Big Red Dog book stand at Barnes and Noble.

2. I spent half of the money I earned from painting my grandparent's railing on cat books.

3. My Nana used to buy Pokemon Macaroni and Cheese for me specifically because I liked to collected the pokemon tabs on the back. I have a lot of them.

4. When I moved away from Prospect in kindergarten, I was given I Spy: Christmas from my teacher. I don't know what it had to do with anything, but it was nice.

5. I lived in a place different from Prospect for a total of 6 months.

6. My brother saw the card Laura sent me for Christmas last year before I did because he always gets the mail. His response was "Who the hell is Laura?" I think it was because she dotted her I's with hearts.

7. I'm a master at Monopoly.

8. Every dream that I've had that Danielle was in, she died.

9. In seventh grade I attempted to read The Oddessy, and I got 1/6 through it.

10. I used to be obsessed with the Spice Girls. I have a Ginger Spice barbie doll.

11. Some of my favorite candies are Razzels and Take 5's.

12. I used to think I was going to be an SNL Completest when I grew up. That's someone who has everything Saturday Night Live.

13. I've spent at least 500 dollars on TV on DVD.

14. I'll miss not having a new cat with a hat picture every month this year.

15. Every year my dad gets me gloves, a hat, chapstick, and Santa's Coal [a gum company] in my stocking for Christmas.

16. I really hate Peeps if eaten simultaneously.

17. I have 5 holographic Vaporeon pokemon cards.

18. I once completed a 1000 piece puzzle, give or take a few lost pieces.

19. I used to have a fear of cats.

20. I have three boxes full of Beanie Babies.

21. I received 3 cards from Nerdfighters. I told my mom it was a 'fan club.'

22. I could survive on Strawberry Coolatas alone.

23. I have every possession that's close to me next to my bed.

24. I have a love/hate relationship with zombies.

25. My favorite fruit is pineapple.

26. I'm gonna miss my cell phone when I get a new one. It's so definitive of me.

27. My favorite character on Glee is Sue Sylvester. I'm one of the few people on this earth that can say that.

28. I was late to a movie because I spent too much time in an animal store.

29. I love 90's cartoons. Specifically: Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Doug, and Pepper Ann.

30. My mom bought me assorted fruit flavored cough drops just so I can show Josh that I have good taste in cough drops.

31. I'm a mix of lazy and impatient. It's not a good combination.

32. I always beat my 7 year old cousin at Connect Four.

33. If I had to name two children, their names would be Karce and Jemma.

34. My favorite breed of dog is Pomeranian.

35. My favorite quote ever is from Glee. "Don't go in the Christmas closet!"

36. I hate white out. It has done bad things to me.

37. I still get tense whenever I see a sticky note.

38. I have a keyboard in my room that I almost never use.

39. Laura has been making graphics for me for a couple years, and she still doesn't enjoy it. I have complicated requests.

40. I tend to make things into a big project. Sometimes it's for the better. That's how 10mow started.

41. I'm considering buying The Sims. Thoughts?

42. I spent 9 dollars on iTunes on old cartoons. They were: Aah Real Monsters! Doug, and the first episode of The Fairly Oddparents.

43. I saw The Polar Express in theaters when it came out. Impressive.

44. My favorite video game is SSX 3. It's about snowboarding. I hate snowboarding.

45. I always begged my mom for more pillows. I have 5.

46. When asked my favorite music, I always say "Old stuff, like the Beatles." Just because I'm afraid of the reaction to "Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening..."

47. My favorite pokemon is Azumarill, but I was too lazy to make it my profile picture on FaceBook.

48. My favorite TV show as a kid was Arthur. "Hey, D.W.!"

49. Sigourney Weaver is one of my favorite actresses.

50. I'm still a professional Chameleon Breeder, Angela.

Do this in the comments. Or at least attempt.

50 Things

50 Things is a meme where you list 50 things within reaching distance. You'll be surprised.

1. A pillow
2. An empty container of Burger King French fries.
3. The Rent OBC Recording.
4. Scratch-and-sniff
5. The Hunger Games
6. Catching Fire
7. A wireless mouse -that I've never used-
8. My iPod.
9. My Halloween card from the Nerdfighters.
10. Kathy Griffin: Official Book Club Selection
11. The Christmas card Laura sent to me last year.
12. A Kitten's Life
13. Cats: The Ultimate Guide
14. Celebrity Mole: Hawaii.
15. A tooth that came out in third grade.
16. My glasses case.
17.Really, Really Bad Sports Jokes
18. Looking for Alaska
19. 2007 Yearbook
20. 2008 Yearbook
21. 2009 Yearbook
22. PS2 Controller
23. Wheel of Fortune handheld game
24. Empty container of bubble tape
25. Percy Jackson and the Olympians- the Demigod Files
26. My writing exercise book
27. Scribbles on ads for Maggie McFly's
28. Woodland livestrong bracelet.
29. iPod jack
30. Bouncy ball
31. Rugrats go Wild
32. Half of a fake dollar bill
33. A real dollar bill
34. Squishy ball
35. The packet of Cajan songs
36. Nintendo DS
37. My schedule
38. My list of people to shop for
39. My cellular
40. Empty tub of chocolate covered "Peanut Butter"
41. The Oddysey [I don't know why]
42. A sticker with a red toad on it
43. Total Drama Island: The Complete Series
44. The cover to Paper Towns
45. A ticket to a baseball game
46. A stack of Post-It notes
47. Laptop charger
48. Mousepad that, again, I never used.
49. My tickets from the volleyball raffle last year [That I lost]
50. The Wicked playbill Danielle gave to me.

So yea, do this yourself. It's very interesting.

Water is just Drawn to me.

Today I went to the talent show at the school. It. was. Amazing.

The acts were just incredible, including Kasey and Jami. It was fantastic. I didn't expect THAT much talent was in our school.

Kasey and Jami got my sister and I reserved seats :] We were in the second row. We would have been in the first but there was only one seat in the row and I wanted my sister next to me.

Then we had a 10 minute intermission and then another half hour. We were told it was gonna be a teacher singing, but WE DIDN'T KNOW HOW AMAZING IT WAS GOING TO BE!

The CP English teacher Mrs. Shauve is in a band -a real band with rockers with tattoos and all.- She had a 45 minute set and it was so fantastic. They sang a couple of popular songs, and then a realllly long medley of MORE popular rock songs! They ended with Don't Stop Believing. I recorded it on my phone. I can't fathom how great the show was.

Then my sister had to pick up Heather after her basketball practice. My sister, Alaina, and I waited in the back parking lot for about a half an hour.

Once we picked up Heather we met up with Jess, Lindsay, and Aubrey at the Naugatuck Friendly's. We made the waitresses believe it was my sisters birthday (which is actually in February). They sang their special song and gave her a balloon. My sister gave it to me and it currently floats next to me.

Lindsay jumped over the table and, basically, attacked my sister for her balloon. She ended up knocking over her glass of water, and it spilled all over me! The second time today I got water on me.

Then after a good hour, we left. Aubrey followed us to Friendly's because she apparently doesn't know how to get anywhere. She attempted to go the way we came, while we went a shorter way. After we slightly changed course, she pulled over and called us. She followed us to our side of Prospect -which she lives on the other side- and pulled into Smokerise while we continued down Clark hill. We would have made her play hide-and-go-seek except my sister was running out of gas.

In the car, Alaina was sitting next to me holding my sister's balloon. She hit me in the face with it. I saw something coming from the side of me so I jerked back and banged my head on the window. *Facepalm*

So yes, this is a good day. A very good day.