I must pause to say that Kanye West is truly amazing.
Tonight I was having one of those times when I just really listen to an album and Heartbreak Hotel is just really really satisfying musically. I kept finding layers in it. I really enjoy the cohiesive theme of it, how the lyrics are not the typical type of rap lyrics and just...how he nails it. I am really glad I just listened to it and let it get in to me and I in to it. It leaves me feeling completed and appreciative.

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While I listened to the album I was playing with some poems. I have discovered that OneNote, the windows program is really an awesome program. I started taking notes on it last semester but tonight I tried it out for writing. I am really really happy with the flexibility that it allows. For my writing style it is perfect for the way that I tend to hop and write various different angles and scenes of the same event at once. I can write essentially what feels like painting in a small picture frame and still have everything on the same canvas. I can rearrange where the writing is so that the placement on the OneNote page even conveys the meaning or feeling. The flexibility actually leaves me as happy as if it were my own notebook but allows me almost more room to play with things and at the same time stay structured.
I think by just playing with it tonight it could really help my writing in the future, even academically.
Word program is just so...structured. Thinking about it I think that OneNote could help when I have those bursts of essay ideas and themes and then by looking at what I have I can string them together before I write the paragraph and not during.
I am really happy.

Thank you Kanye.
Thank you OneNote.
Together it turns out you rock.

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So I have always liked the Mongols but after reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford I REALLY like the Mongols. It is a truly just breath taking book and solidifies in my mind that the Mongols and their culture were pretty much some of the most amazing rulers ever. I'm at the point where I am excitedly spewing information about them and feel like I just found out what it's like to a football fan. Jack Weatherford is just a GREAT writer too.
Unfortunately my library is not versed in the awesomeness. The one book the system had by him is...durh the one I just finished!
Oh and there was nothing on the Yuan dynasty either, I mean not like a specific book.
I need to find a really good atlas as well.
In fact I kind of just feel like I have a whole non-stop reading project coming out of this that is going to take me all over Asia. I'm kind of excited.
I'm kind of realizing how freaking overrated European history is.
Ack.
This is why there is an inter-library-loan system at the college level and why I work in the library.
I'm farking excited.

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Oh yeah and Everything is Illuminated starring Elijah Wood is probably one the best films I have ever seen for $3. Big Lots, thank you.
I liked that the movie was in Ukranian. It really made me pay attention as opposed to messing with Free Cell as I tend to when I watch movies on my laptop. Elijah as Jonathan Foer does not talk much during the film but that was probably why he was cast. He has this amazing ability to say so much with his eyes and his actions and characterization. Eugene Hutz is hilarious and thought provoking as Alex. Oleksandr Choroshko as the grandfather pretty much makes me laugh and cry.
Ugh I mean it is just a really good film. The imagery is beautiful and creative.
Yes, it's another film with Jews and Nazis but it is composed in a way that drew me in completely. I laughed and teared up while watching it. If a film can provoke both of those out of me as well as a depth of thought then I consider it to be pretty darn good.
If you do watch it though I must say this: watch the deleted scenes!!! They are REALLY funny. I understand why they took them out (they take away too much from the dramatic tension) but they are great to watch afterward.
I want the soundtrack now too. The music was entertaining and as much a part of the film as anything. I couldn't "understand" it but that beauty of music is that is crosses language barriers.

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Hm. That's it for now.
Peace.
~Lo