Oh no, it's Shojo.

Yes, my title is a reference to the Secret Series.

Alrightypants, this post is, like, 95% because I want Katherine to watch these and also because I just wanted to make a list of Shojo anime.

1. Ouran High School Host Club - reverse harem, comedy, parody, feminism, perf
Ouran is QUEEN. I know, baby, I know you're scared, but you can't say you're into Shojo and not have seen OHSHC. It's, like, a rule. Also, the twins are bae.

2. Special A - school girl, slice of life
S.A holds a special place in my little heart because so far it has been the BEST at ACTUALLY FREAKING NOT ENDING ON A CLIFF HANGER. S.A is basically the opposite of Ghost Hunt and I love them for it. (Sry, Naru, bby, I still looovee you.)

3. Kaichou wa Maid-sama! school, slice of life, comedy, feminism
I actually haven't finished Maid-sama yet as I am writing this but at this point, it's already becoming a favorite. The characters are super lovable and the plot is really different and interesting. Also, the male lead character reminds me a lot of Naru Shibuya from Ghost Hunt, so imagine him in a Shojo and it's literally BEST.

4. Chihayafuru - sports, friendship, relationship, drama
Okay, yeah, not technically a Shojo because it's a sports anime but it's light and it has romantic themes. It will kill your little shipping heart and it's a good show so watch it.

OURAN IS QUEEN YEAH WHOO GOODBYE

#TAMAKIIIIII

Oblivious, Uninterested, and/or Generally Preoccupied Student Council President, OUT.

Anime? Anime.

I told you I don't blog often.

Sit down, young Reader-chan, let me tell you a story.  About six months ago, I was young, naive, and, most importantly, I didn't know the first thing about anime.  I thought anime was weird, I thought that it was the one thing I would never get into, now I look back at that past self and laugh diabolically.  LOOK AT WHAT I HAVE BECOME.  Ahem. SO.  Anime is fantastic but I understand that most of you are probably a lot like I was.  "I don't know what to watch!" and  "I won't like it!"  You say in this hypothetical scenario.  Don't worry, hypothetical you, I'm here to help! I am your anime Sensei.

Here are some things you need to know about anime:

1. It's different from other means of storytelling.

Anime is completely different from a lot of things you probably already watch and like.  Different doesn't mean bad, it means different.  It may take you a while to get used to the style of the animation and the way the story is told, don't give up on it right away.

2. Not all anime is the same.

If you don't like Attack on Titan, (first of all, how dare you?) you may really love Ouran High School Host Club, or the other way around.  Anime is completely its own shindig so there are several different genres to choose from.

3. It is perfectly okay if you don't like it.

You may just not like anime or an anime show but before you decide that, give it a proper chance and don't be mean about not liking it.

THE GOLDEN RULE OF ANIME: Give every show at least five episodes, if not ten.  

A lot of anime shows tend to just drop the viewer right into the world without explaining much.  Chances are, you won't like a show after the first episode, give it a chance.

Now here are some recommendations!

My first anime and my favorite anime, I will never not recommend this one: Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan (or Shingeki no Kyojin) is a apocalyptic anime in which all of what is left of humanity is under attack from giant, humanoid creatures called Titans.  The story begins when the outermost wall, wall Maria, is broken down by a giant, abnormal Titan, called the Colossal Titan.  The three main protagonists, Eren Jeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert make it to the safety of the next wall and the show follows them on their journey in joining the military and aiding in humanity's effort to defeat the Titans.  This show is pretty violent and kinda scary but also super well written.  It has amazing character development and a whole bunch of really amazing characters.  

If you can watch The Walking Dead, you can watch Attack on Titan, son.  

If you want to start with something a little bit lighter but still dramatic: Full-Metal Alchemist

Full-Metal Alchemist is widely known as one of the best anime of all time, it has comedy, romance, mystery, likable characters, a good plot, and everything else.  The show follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who learned the art of alchemy and are on a quest to retrieve something they have lost.  FMA is rated PG and has a light feel without being a comedy, it's a great place to start watching anime.

If you want to start with something super light and set in the modern world: Chihayafuru

Chihayafuru is probably the cutest anime ever and is steadily becoming one of my all time favorites.  This show is about three teens, Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata, that play a competitive card game called Karuta and their path to becoming the best players in the world.  I really can't do the show enough justice, you just have to watch it.

So go on, young Reader-chan, go forth and watch anime or at least stop judging anime, I wish you luck on your journey.  

Lucy

Shingeki no Gravity Falls - Part Three

Everyone sat on the floor of the twin’s room, trying to figure out how to reopen the portal back to the Attack on Titan universe.  “So you are, like, the last people on the earth, being attacked by giant, man eating monsters and you want to go back?”  Mabel asks.  “You know,”  Armin says, scratching his head.  “That’s a good point.”  Hanji adjusts her glasses.  “Maybe we should just stay here and if the portal just happens to open again we could go back.”  Mabel jumps up.  “Yes!  Do you guys want to play a game or what?”  Dipper rolled her eyes as Mabel taught the inter-dimensional soldiers how to play Monopoly.  Once they got the hang of it, they ended up actually enjoying the game.  “Arlert!  If you don’t trade me Park Place right now, I swear to you!”  Levi shook his fist at the blonde.  “Fine.”  Armin held the card out to the Corporal.  Eren rolled the dice and counted out ten spaces, moving his tiny, metal top hat.  He landed on Boardwalk which was owned by Hanji and had a red hotel on it.  Eren looked down at his money and saw two twenty dollar bills.  “Guuuhhh!!!!”  He flipped the board.  “This game is dumb.”  Hanji fist pumped the air celebrating, she had the most money and property.  Levi was a close second.  He crossed his arms.  “Okay.  So that was fun. Heh.”  Dipper laughed.  Eren squinted at the younger boy.

Shingeki no Gravity Falls - Part Two

Mabel skipped down the hiking trail next to the curmudgeonly corporal.  Dipper walked alongside Armin and Hanji, trying to explain what he knew about the portal from his book.  Eren watched the girl as she kept trying to talk to Levi.  She was wearing a pink sweater with a bedazzled kitten on the front and Eren kept imagining the same sweater on the Corporal.  “This book is so cool!”  Armin flipped through Dipper’s book excitedly.  “Where did you fi- Agh!”  Armin tripped over the front step of the Mystery Shack, dropping Dipper’s book.  Hanji picked the book off of the ground and started flipping through the worn pages.  Armin brushed himself off.  “Dude.  Are you okay?”  A large man-child in cargo shorts stepped out of the shack carrying a broom.  “Whoa.  Who are all these dudes?  And why are they all in little uniforms?”  he asks.  Dipper introduces everyone.  “I think that there have been portals opening from other dimensions.”  Dipper explains.  Soos’ eyes widen.  “So you mean that guy really is THE goblin king?”  Jareth glared from inside the shack.  “Okaaay.  We’ll deal with him later.”  Dipper led the group inside and into the gift shop.  The shack was closed but Stan was in the gift shop, counting money in the register.  He looked up at the group.   “Kids, who are these weird looking teenagers and why are they all matching?”  “These are, um, friends.  We met them at the diner.”  Dipper laughed nervously.  Stan studied the group and shrugged.  “The blonde one needs a haircut.”  They moved quickly up the stairs to the twin’s room.  “Phew!”  Dipper said.  “So to open the portal and- Mabel! Will you stop flirting with Levi?!”  Armin and Eren snickered.  “But.”  She protested. Dipper glared.  “Stop.”  

Shingeki no Gravity Falls - Part One

“I will kill... Every...”  Eren tossed and mumbled in his sleep, a green leaf sticking to his cheek.  “Last...”  He snored.  “Eren!  Wake up!”  Armin shook his friend.  “Agh!”  Eren jumped up and started to reach for his twin swords out of habit but he found that they weren’t there.  “Where are we?”  Mikasa asked, standing up.  Armin shrugged, Eren rubbed his eyes.”  Mikasa readjusted the red scarf around her neck as Eren stood next to her.  “Mabel, come on!  I swear I saw the light flashing just a little further up there.”  The Shiganshina trio turned towards the voice to see two kids in strange clothes stepping through the trees.  The kids looked to be a bout twelve or thirteen, a boy and a girl.  The boy was studying a page in an old book and the girl rolled her eyes.  The boy looked up and his eyes widened.  Armin raised his hand and waved awkwardly.  “Uh, hi?”  The boy asked, tucking his book under his arm.  “Oh my gosh, I love your hair!”  The girl skipped towards Armin and batted her eyelashes.  “I’m Mabel!”  The blonde boy chuckled.  “Uh.  I’m Armin, that’s Mikasa and this is Eren.”  Mikasa and Eren mumbled greetings.  The boy introduced himself as Dipper Pines, the girl was apparently his twin sister.  “Do you know where we are?”  Mikasa asked, stone faced, stepping towards the brother and sister.  “This is Gravity Falls, doy!”  Mabel stepped closer to Armin and opened her mouth to speak again when there was a loud flash directly above the group and a scream.  A short guy with black hair fell through the sky followed by a woman with glasses who landed on top of the short one.  “What the?!  Ow!  Hanji!”  The short one screamed and pushed the woman off of him.  “Corporal?”  Eren asked as the trio stood at attention, Mabel blinked, and Dipper flipped frantically through his book.  “Can you tell me what the heck is going on, Jeager?!”  The short guy stood and glared at Eren.  Eren shrugged.  “Aha!”  Dipper jumped and pointed at his book.  “You guys came from a portal to another dimension!”  Mabel took the short guy’s hand as he glared at her.  “Welcome to Gravity Falls, beautiful stranger.  I’m Mabel.”  “Mabel.”  Dipper groaned.  The short guy shook his hand away from hers and looked down.  “Levi.”  He ignored the girl as she continued to stare at him.  “Does anyone know how to get us out of here?”  He looked at Armin.  “Come with us, I think we can reopen the portal tonight, but you can stay at the Shack until then.”  Dipper readjusted his hat and motioned towards the hiking trail.  A look of confusion passed over the group but they followed the boy.   

Does the Internet Do More Harm Than Good?

Last year, I went to a class composed of several homeschool kids where we learned public speaking and debate.  We started every class with a prompt question and each student would do a one minute speech giving the answer.  The questions were usually nothing that would cause a hot debate, "What did you do this summer?" and the like.  However, one class, we were asked the question, "Does the internet do more bad than good?"  Being homeschool kids, many of the kids in the class gave the expected answers.  "Yes and no." , "I don't know." , and "My mom doesn't let me use the computer."  The kids came to the conclusion that the internet doesn't do much good besides providing information.  Many people have this opinion that the internet does more bad than good.  While there are plenty of bad things on the net, like anything else, it can't all be bad.  But what good does the internet do besides providing information?  For one thing, it allows talented people a unique and new creative outlet.  Tumblr, Blogger, Twitter, Youtube, and many more websites give talent somewhere to live and be displayed to a great, worldwide audience.  I mean without Youtube, we would never have known about Justin Bieber, amirite?  The internet gives us a new way to keep in touch with people through social media. (Which can be good and bad, but that's a whole nother story)  Not even going to mention the amazing amount of Gravity Falls gifs that you can find at the blink of an eye.  At some point in this debate, people will probably say "Yeah, the internet does this, but what does it do to physically help people?"  1. Thank you, Mr. Hypothetical guy from the cultural vacuum.  and
2. You probably have never heard of the Project for Awesome.

The P4A is something that happens every year on the internet and has happened since 2007.  If you've never heard of it, you probably live under a rock and/or are homeschooled.  If you do live under a rock, I'll give you a quick P4A crash course.  Hank Green and John Green are brothers.  Hank Green is a guy that has a really great idea every 3.5 seconds and almost always pulls these ideas off.  You may recognize Hank's name from being the executive producer and creator of the Emmy winning web series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries"  He is an internet entrepreneur and is great at what he does.  John Green is an incredibly successful author and the host of the educational web series Crashcourse: world history and classic literature.  The brothers share the highly popular Youtube channel, Vlogbrothers, each posting a video almost every week since 2007.  As the Vlogbrothers gained popularity, many fans of the youtube channel began making videos of their own.   This kickstarted a large movement in the Youtube community.  Vlogbrothers fans became known as Nerdfighters.  December 17th, 2007 Nerdfighters took part in an event called Project for Awesome that started with the Green brothers.  P4A was all about giving Youtube creators a chance to lend their talents to a favorite charity.  John and Hank hosted a livestream and Nerdfighters posted and spammed videos to raise awareness for multiple charities and got people to donate to the most popular charities.  The P4A has happened every year since then.  This year, P4A raised more than 800,000 dollars for charity.  They are still taking donations and voting on which charities will receive a fraction of the donations if you want to contribute, you can go to http://www.projectforawesome.com/ and click the DONATE button.  If you don't want to donate, take some time to watch some of the videos and comment.  For every comment, a penny will be donated to the cause as well.

Love,

   Lucy

GG, NaNoWriMo.

It's November 30, 2013.  Time to talk about what we've learned this year, about writing, about ourselves, and about how short a month is.  I've learned that 1,667 words a day is a completely attainable goal for me.  I've learned that trying and failing feels a heck of a lot better than cowering in your boots on Nov. 1st and running for the hills.  I have written 18,000 short of 50k but I'm happy.  I tried and I learned what I need to know to win next year.  I even plan on attempting camp NaNo in the summer and trying some NaNo rewrites on my own during the rest of the year.  I'm happy with what I did.  It's 32,000 words I would have never written otherwise.

Best Wishes, 

              Lucy Lane