Keepin' It Old School!

You can steal my car and all that jazz, but DO NOT TOUCH MY BLUE SUEDE SHOES.

*laughs* All that jazz. That’s a song too. Did you mean to say that and . . . I don’t really know what I’m trying to say anymore.

Actually, I didn’t think of that! I was just listening to a song called “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presely, and he’s like, “. . . you can steal my car . . . *insert other bad stuff that I don’t remember* .  . . but don’t step on my blue suede shoes!” And yeah . . .

That’s what I thought.

Well you have amazing deductive reasoning then! By the way, that’s how I do my math you know with the . . . nevermind I’ll tell you later. So anyway. We’re going to talk ‘bout old school music because it’s the best. And I’m Jo, but . . . pfft, you already knew that, didn’t you?

I did! Do I get a prize?!

*Hands a million dollars* There you go!

Yay! I can buy stuff now! Or I could save for college . . . anyway. I’m in a weird mood. So old songs. I vote that you start.

*Hands another million dollars* There. Now you can do both! Anyway! I’m okay with starting today! So let’s start way back when the pioneers had to sing songs! I like those songs. But now we fast forward. To the 1920’s which was full of amazingness and . . . yeah . . . So let’s see. In the 1920’s. There . . . wasn’t there Louis Armstrong? Well, I guess that’d be multiple decades . . . but still . . . 1920’s?

I think Louis Armstrong came after the 20’s. I will go check though. Nevermind, you were right. I don’t have much to say about the 20’s though.

Well yay! And I did research that anyway because I mean . . . Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong people. Okay. So now we skip forward to the 1950’s because . . . Elvis Presely, kay? And the 1950’s was when early rock and roll started to emerge and that was when there was a bunch of awesome songs and singers and machines and dances and stuff! Anything to say about the 1950’s then, Mawie?

Only that you skipped the 30’s and 40’s which is like . . . my favorite for music.

*Smiles* I knew you’d notice! Okay so just kidding. 30’s and 40’s. Marie can start because she’s more educated on the time period than myself because . . . I like my early rock and roll and stuff and stuff and . . . STUFF.

Well of course I’d notice! Anyway. Swing music started in the 30’s and became a bit more popular in 1935-ish. It’s a form of jazz music. Not like, elevator music jazz music. Like, awesome Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald jazz music. Uhm . . . let’s see . . . clarinets, trumpets, saxophones, things like that were all used. What else? Got anything else you think I should say Jo? Or anything you want to add?

Well I’d like to say. That there were a lot of black singers in the day, and I love all of them. And i think that may have been Bill Cosby time . . . but I might be wrong . . . but anyway. Amazingness there. Swing music is pretty amazing. I love it myself, though I listen to more electro swing because . . . I’m always up for hybrid genres. I guess . . . and there was another thing I was going to say . . . OH!!! OH HOW COULD I EVER FORGET GLENN MILLER?! AND FRANK SINATRA?! So many time periods. So anything to say bout those people?

Besides the fact that I really love their music? And you forgot Benny Goodman. Oh! And Duke Ellington! I really like Duke Ellington. And I think that’s it. Now you can talk about rock and roll because I know pretty much nothing about that.

HOW DID I FORGET?! I don’t know. But yeah. Amazing music! Frank Sinatra had a short temper, by the way. He was kind of scary . . . but anyway! So you know how I just said I’m always up for hybrid music? Well that’s what rock and roll is! Basically! So let me look up what it’s made of again because I always forget. So let’s see . . . blues, boogie woogie, jump blues, jazz, gospel music (which is super amazing too. So much soul in it!), with western swing and country music. See how many genres that is? Yeah that’s like seven! Seven is my lucky number! See?! SEE?! Okay just kidding. But seven is my lucky number. But moving on. So this was when guitars, mostly electric ones I believe . . . became lead instrument. And pianos were used. And sometimes saxophones. And snare drums. AND YEAH. Amazingness. And now I must mention Ray Charles and Elvis because they were super amazing.

Ray Charles! I forgot to mention him. But yeah . . . I don’t have much to say about that so . . . yeah . . .

Yeah. The fifties man. Amazing. Just like all years . . . I guess . . . but yeah. I wish I could go visit that time for a while. But anyway! So the next few decades: 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s . . . anything you have to say about them? Because I do . . . but not much . . .

No . . .

*Sighs* That’s a shame. All those decades had good music. And my father and I are like . . . the only ones who know a bit about the music in those time periods. So . . . OH! OH MY GOSH! Aretha Franklin! She’s a singer of the 60’s! An amazing singer! If you haven’t heard her song “Respect” I think you should try to find it. You might recognize it. It’s very popular--er--was. Therefore, that’s why it still exists. And there’s the amazing Jimi Hendrix. Who I don’t have much to say about but uh . . . he’s cool. Look him up. So throughout these next few decades, rock does develop into multiple genres of rock. And by the end of the 60’s there was heavy metal. OH! And psychedelic (YES SPELLED IT RIGHT) rock. Which is . . . interesting . . . it’s psychedelic. And the 70’s . . .  disco! And The King of Pop, Michael Jackson himself! Well there’s . . . more progressing of rock and roll obviously. And there’s soul, which I enjoy very much. And uh . . . FUNK! FUNK is really awesome, in my opinion. A lot of fun and loud and stuff. So singers of that time . . . MJ. Cher. Elton John. Stevie Wonder. Rod Stewart. Paul Mcartney. All those people! And the 80’s. So obviously digital recording. And all those electronic noises and stuff in 80’s songs. So this was the electro age, really. So there’s techno, house, and freestyle. And I think this was when R & B and Hip Hop were . . . found? Made? Something! And so there’s that. Singers: Madonna, Prince, Still MJ (obviously), Janet Jackson, and uh . . . There’s Ozzy, if you people’s ever heard of him. And last but not least, 90’s. Well. There was a lot of hybrid genres. A lot. Alternative Rock is nice. And . . . I love me my reggae. And those mixed with funk and jazz and soul and stuff. And some singers: New Kids on the Block, Celine Dion, Ah, the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera I think,  and . . . Beyonce. AND! AND RICKY MARTIN! Don’t forget those latinos! And so yeah. I love all those time periods. From the 20’s to the 2010’s I guess.

Andromeda Galaxy Jo! That was a long paragraph! Galilean moons! In that time I bothered my brother, ate a cupcake, insulted my brother, got insulted by my brother, and had my cat be annoying. But anyway. If there were a history class for music, you could teach it. Anyway. I don’t have much to say besides . . . besides nothing actually. So any last words?

I tried to say as little as possible with enough background . . . kind of . . . is it weird that I thought you were going to say, “. . .got insulted by Mittens?” And I’d constantly need to internet to jog my memory. Like here *gestures*. But I’d have fun teaching that. So yeah. Amazingness. All you people should consider listening to some of the older stuff. It’s quite good. That’s all. So bye!

Yes. My cat insults me. That’s why she’s preventing me from getting iced tea because she’s sitting on my lap. Anyway. Yeah. I highly suggest that you people go check out some swing music, and if you don’t like it I don’t know what’s wrong with you. So goodbye fictional people!

~Marie and Jo

Sketchbooks, Writing Projects, and Sleeping . . . Oh My

Today is once again a Sunday. And Sunday means Sunday Posts, so that’s what we’re going to do. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am Marie and Jo is over there. Being green, unless she changed the typeface color.

Now I’m read! Just kidding, I’m green! So we’re going to talk about stuff because it’s Sunday!

I don’t know how you can be read. But anyway. We’re going to talk about our newest writing projects I guess you could call them. They’re both nameless I believe, aren’t they?

Errrr . . . autocorrect error? Yeah. Let’s go with that. *Laughs* Anyway. So I actually I may or may not have two. It depends. But yes. Nameless.

Two?

*Nods* I had an idea in . . . one summer . . . I believe the summer before seventh grade? And I tried it out but I couldn’t develope it well enough because, well, I couldn’t write back then. So I decided not to tell you about my epic fail. But I did draw a picture of the idea because it was picture inspired. But yeah. I might attempt it again.

Well, what was the idea?

I still don’t have it completely figured out, but it’s about this girl who’s a selkie (a mythical creature that is a seal in the water but assumes a human form out of water) and this other person finds out and . . . yeah . . . I’ll figure it out more later. So that’s enough of that idea. On to yours Marie.

That reminds me of when you drew those drawings in your sketchbook. Remember that? Because I don’t know how to explain it. Anyway. So mine is . . . interesting. So basically, in third grade I played this game with my brother. And then I turned it into a “book” I guess you could say. But I gave up on it after a while, but now I’m going to try it again. And hopefully it’ll be more developed and interesting.

Yeah! Those drawings of the girls with the hoods of animals? Those are the ones that I drew instead of writing the idea! It was going to be a whole council of different people that are part animal and this girl had to help them and stuff!

*nods* Yes those! I really liked those drawings.

YEAH me too!!! I wish I could find the sketchbook I had them in . . .

You have so many sketchbooks . . . but I’m sure you’ll find it eventually. I mean, if you’ve kept them all.

*Clears throat* Well of course I do. And of course I keep all of them. I’ve just misplaced that one . . . but I know it’s still in my house somewhere . . .

Well, at least you know that much.

Yeah true. But anyway! Back to writing projects. Tell us the thing you will attempt to rewrite.

The nameless thing that desperately needs a name. So it’s like . . . basically, these people have powers. But I haven’t figured out the conflict, or the plot, and I’m still working on developing the world. I mean, the original story had a conflict, but it seems to childish. I mean, I was like 8 when I originally wrote it.

Well that makes sense.

Yeah. So. Now you get to talk about your other idea.

It’s kind of hard to explain and have it make sense, but I’ll just give you peoples the general idea. So basically. This girl named Malina is an ambassador/representative/chancellor/secretary (of state in our current government.) whatever you want to call her. Oh! Of her planet. Yes. Ambassador of her planet. Dealing in foreign affairs. So there’s that. And like, the Queen of her planet is a widow, as in the king died, and so all the planets in that little system of theirs wants to jump on the opportunity to have the queen marry one of their suitors so they can take over Mallinia (the planet) because it’s supposedly the best one. And so that happens. And Malina (yes, named after the planet) is like, going around and talking to each planet and stuff and then like . . . stuff happens and I’m still not completely sure of what will exactly happen. But there’s supposed to be this whole war thing. And yeah.

Having new ideas . . . is so hard and fun at the same time. Because you have to figure so many things out, but it’s also refreshing. I think I’d go insane if I worked on the same story for too long. But anyway.

I completely 100% agree with that. I’m very obsessed with drawling stuff from this story because I’m so excited. It’s just hard because I’m not that great of a science fiction author, not as great as I’d like to be. And I’m pretty bad at writing about monarchies because it can be complex. I just don’t have the logic or the brain to do that . . . yet. But I’ll get better. Hopefully. Practicing. Researching. All that fun stuff! But I am pretty excited for this story. It should hopefully be pretty good.

And doing research is always hard. Sometimes it isn’t. But like, there are some things that would be in a book that you would never think about researching on the internet.

I completely agree with that too. So what else do you have to say because I don’t got anything else . . .

I don’t think I have anything else . . . besides, I’m supposed to be doing math homework so . . .

Yeah I should be sleeping because I really need to fix my sleeping schedule so I’m not so . . . moody.

Ah sleep. I’ve never liked it much. Anyway. I think that’s it for today.

Yeah me neither. Sometimes I’m part insomniac and then sometimes I just fall asleep  like someone gave me sleeping pills. *cough cough* Matteo *cough cough*

*laughs a little* So anyway. Until . . . Friday I guess. For me at least. I didn’t post last Friday . . . that’s what we need to do. Work on our punishment system for not posting. But we’ll do that later.

And Saturday for me. I’ve missed this whole month. So great. I just can’t kill that many charries, so yeah. We’ll have to change that punishment. So bye!

Bye!

~Marie and Jo

Book Homes

I like that place where they house books! Book homes!

*rolls eyes and laughs* Book homes. Yes. That’s obviously what they’re called.

Well yeah! Book homes! And people can temporarily “adopt” the books. Like a rental service! For books!

Well, I guess you could call it that.

Okay, so just in case you didn’t catch my drift that I so obviously threw your way, I’m talkin’ ‘bout libraries!

And if you didn’t catch the other drift, I’m Marie and Jo is over there being green and very Jo-ish.

Just kidding I’m Marie.

*rolls eyes* Because I obviously act like that.

Sometimes--well not really. Okay fine I’m Jo! With a J! Not an M because then I’d be Mo! Like Mojo!

*shakes head* And we just wasted all that time talking about alternate names for libraries and which one of us is Marie. Or, rather, myself. But anyway. Today we’re going to be talking about libraries. And Jo is going to start because I said so.

Because she said so! Well. I’d like to start off with a beautiful . . . VISUAL AID.

So pwetty! SO MANY BOOKS.

Quite beautiful. I wish I had that many books.

What do you wanna bet that Jefferson had more than that many books? Wasn’t it Jefferson who liked books or am I just going even more insane than I already am?

Jefferson as in the third President of the United States?

No, Jefferson as in the dog! Yes, the third president. President. Whatever.

*frowns* Well, I’m not sure actually. I think so.

I’ll just say yes. Because I don’t think my brain would remember that if I hadn’t learned it in history. ANYWAY. LIBRARIES. I WANT TO GO TO THE LIBRARY. Maybe it shouldn’t be “Take me out to the ball game,” but instead “Take me over to the library.” That’d be much more interesting.

I’m sure it wouldn’t be as popular if that’s what it actually said.

Well that’s true.

So was there anything specific about libraries that we were going to talk about?

I don’t believe so . . .

So we’re just talking about libraries in general?

*Nods*

Well now I don’t know what to say . . .

Just nod and we can have a nodding war. Just kidding! But libraries. They have bookshelves. And there are some really cool bookshelves out there.

That’s true. I would consider getting bookshelves that are . . . special and awesome, but I don’t think they’d hold as many books.

Yeah I just don’t have money to pay for awesome bookshelves. Like this one.

Yeah, that too. But that is a really awesome bookshelf.

I know right?! And I want one that’s like, you can sit in it! Like this one!

That would be awesome! I feel like I wouldn’t sit in it though . . .

I probably wouldn’t let anyone sit in it, for fear of breaking it. Even myself!

How would you break it?

Have you met any teenagers who haven’t broken one thing in their lifetime?

Well, duh. But how do you break a bookshelf that you’re supposed to sit in?

*Shrugs* It could happen!

Right.

It could! Maybe someone could fall into it!

I really doubt that. But anyway. I don’t have anything else to say, do you?

Nope!

So I guess that’s it for today . . .

Yep!

So goodbye for now fictional people!

Bye!

Last word!

~Marie and Jo

P. S. Those are words! PLURAL.

Crap.

Do you like the title? How simplistic it is? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Why did I name this post "Crap."? Simple. We forgot to post on Sunday. What a fail. But hey, you have to cut us some slack. It was Daylight Savings and we had stayed up until 4AM that night. What were we doing? Writing of course. So we were tired is what I'm trying to say.

But this Sunday there will definitely be a post. Hopefully . . . But here's a picture that I found and thought was funny.

~Marie

What Happens When Authors Are Perfectionists

Today is Sunday! And that means we post together! About rewriting books! I, Marie, am green today and Jo over there is orange.

Hey look! I’m orange! Anyway! Hello fictional peoples!!!

Yes. Quite orange indeed. So I’m going to make you start Jo. Just because I can.

Thank you then! So rewriting books and why! So I’m rewriting three books at the moment. One of them is my own, one of which I share with Mawie there, and one of which is not my own or Mawie’s or both of ours.

So then whose is it?

It’s actually my late grandfather’s. He wrote an autobiography and it’s printed out. While we were cleaning out my grandma’s house, my mom came across it and gave it to me to look at. And so I decided it’d be a good way to get to know him, and to honor his memory too, that is rewrite it and maybe get it published to give copies to my family. So yeah!

Oh that’s awesome! I hope I’m included in this group labeled family, because now I’m curious.

Well obviously siwy! Of course you’re in my little family! And he used a typewriter so there are a lot of errors, but it’s like he already edited for the most part as far as I’ve gotten in it. But anyway, what are you rewriting sissy?

Ah typewriters. Amazing things them typewriters. Anyway. I am rewriting my NaNo novels from this year and last. In addition to those, I’m going to rewrite all the short stories I wrote when I was in third and fourth grade. They have a surprising amount of potential and I want to try to make them somewhat decent. And maybe get them published, but we’ll see when I get that far.

Lot’s of stuff on your plate, huh?

No kidding. Alas, this is the life of a perfectionist.

But you’re okay with it, right? BECAUSE IT’S A PROBLEM IF YOU’RE NOT OKAY WITH THAT.

Of course I’m okay with that. For me, being a perfectionist is a choice.

Good, it should be. I am obviously not a perfectionist. Sometimes, sure, but most of the time that’s a no. But anyway. I, like Mawie, am rewriting my NaNo from this last November.

And why is that Jo? I know why, obviously, but do the fine people of the interwebs?

It’s quite simple really. Like I’ve said a million times, the original sucks. Absolutely terrible. I was rushed so it’s really bad. Like really bad. So don’t get me wrong, I still love it (kind of I guess), but it needs many adjustments. And now it’ll be in a series, so it does need some extra plot changes. So yeah!

That’s understandable. But I enjoyed the original a lot to be honest.

You did? *laughs* I think that’s really funny actually. The original was just executed so badly. There are some parts I’m keeping and putting in the redo because it had its moments, but most of it was really sloppy both plot hole and regular editing wise. Like it was meant to be sci-fi, but it’s obviously fantasy. And I didn’t really know where I was going but now I do. But anyway. Onto your stuff.

I guess you could say that. It is your novel anyway. But anyway, I’m rewriting Mind Over Matter and The Crown of Victory because they’re both so underdeveloped and so badly written and I know exactly the way I want those novels to be, and that’s not what they ended up like. Maybe it’ll take me years, but I’m going to make those books exactly as they appear in my mind.

You sound very committed!

You could say that.

I will say that. So I think that’s all I’ve got. Anything more to say, Marie?

Only that we didn’t talk about Spectrum. But it’s late, and I think we should save that for another post.

Oh yes! But yeeeeeaaaaah . . . I’m on the verge of falling asleep . . . so we can post ‘bout that next week or something.

Besides, Spectrum really does deserve its own post. There’s kind of a lot to talk about. But anyway. Goodnight fictional people!

Goodnight! Talk to you later fictional peeps! Bye!

Mwuahahahahahahaha last word! 

~Marie and Jo