Archuleta, Vonnegut, and Too Much Television

I've been hearing "Crush" by David Archuleta a lot on the radio lately, so I decided to look at some Youtube vids of his days on American Idol. He's so adorable! I was surprised to see how young he was. I would've never been able to tell from his voice. Or maybe it's just that it seems that there are more famous female singers who are young than famous male singers who are young... Other than, you know, the Jonas Brothers. But the Jonas Brothers sound young. Because all they sing is teeny-bopper stuff. That, and well, they can't really sing, can they? Except Nick Jonas...

Anyway, here's a video:





Is it me or does he look really young? I don't remember boys looking that young in high school, but then again, I guess I was young back then too. Anyway, that's probably mostly why I think he's adorable. That, and I love his voice. He's so good. Good job, Idol.

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So I read about 5 pages of Jane Eyre. And then I got distracted by Vonnegut and started reading Mother Night. Good stuff so far.

I was looking at New York Times's best seller list the other day, and I noticed how so many of them are being adapted into movies. The Time Traveler's Wife, My Sister's Keeper, Julie and Julia... Does Julie and Julia even have a plot line? I thought it was just someone blogging about cooking. But then again, not everything needs to have a plot to be interesting.

After seeing the trailer for The Time Traveler's Wife, I really want to read it. My Sister's Keeper makes me curious about Jodi Picoult's writing. Julie and Julia doesn't pique my interests so much.

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I've also started watching So You Think You Can Dance again. Here's a dance that was done to Jordin Sparks's "Battlefield," another song I've been listening to a lot today.



Another show I just started watching is Hell's Kitchen. This is probably the first cooking show that I've actually enjoyed watching. It's so intense!

Ennui

I seem to be suffering from a bout of ennui, or so I think. Although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I completely understand all the nuances of the meaning of the word.

Anyway, that led me to Wikipedia, which led me to Sylvia Plath's poem of the same title:

SYLVIA PLATH

Ennui

Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe,
designing futures where nothing will occur:
cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she
will still predict no perils left to conquer.
Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight
finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard
of, while blasé princesses indict
tilts at terror as downright absurd.

The beast in Jamesian grove will never jump,
compelling hero’s dull career to crisis;
and when insouciant angels play God’s trump,
while bored arena crowds for once look eager,
hoping toward havoc, neither pleas nor prizes
shall coax from doom’s blank door lady or tiger.

I think I rather like this poem. Like all good poems, this one probably has layers upon layers of hidden meaning that I have yet to understand, but I'll look into that later.

Speaking of Sylvia Plath, did you know she stuck her head in an oven? I think I knew that at some point, but had forgotten. It almost sounds comical until you realize how terrible it is that that's actually how her life ended. Never a good sign when you're so depressed you want to stick your head in the oven.

I think I'm going to start reading Jane Eyre, which I bought several months ago. I have this really bad habit of not reading the books that I actually own. I think it's because I figure that, since I own them, I'll have plenty of time to read them in the future. No rush, no deadline... leads to major procrastination.