"You Can't Put Anything on the Internet That Isn't True."

So says the girl from the State Farm commercial before she walks off with her date, who is clearly not the "French model" he pretends to be on the internet. While of course we know that people DO put false information on the internet every day, sometimes it can be surprisingly difficult to sift through all the facts, headlines, and blurbs that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. On one hand we don't want to be the super skeptic person who can't hear or read anything without pulling a "Really? Did that happen? Did it?" On the other hand, we don't want to be the gullible child who ends up on a date with the most repellent "French model" ever.

Taken from: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7VOE/state-farm-the-internet-and-french-model

Now, let's take this same idea and rewind about 200 years. The year is 1811, and "A Lady" has just published her first novel. Originally an epistolary work titled Elinor and Marianne, Jane Austen's maiden novel Sense and Sensibility confronts the same problems we have today: what can and cannot be believed?

A letter signed by one character is actually written by another. Another character believes for 10 minutes that she is witnessing a proposal when, in reality, the man "proposing" is just making a business proposition. For the characters in the novels, both their eyes and ears can deceive them. Written word can be fallible, and sometimes the most correct accounts come from petty gossip. Austen plays beautifully with the issue of evidence, sometimes pulling the wool over her characters' and her audience's eyes. Now I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wishes to read it, but the next time you find yourself pouring over its pages, try and notice how Austen weaves a tangled web  of truth and lies--and it's up to the characters to try and tug on the right string. 

So as to what you can believe in the world, I still have absolutely no idea. As a person who hates confrontation, I tend to lie more on the accepting/"gullible" side of the spectrum. That being said, I can usually spot a falsity pretty well, but no one's perfect. I would just advise not getting 100% behind anything until you have done specific research, and even then, be mindful of the integrity of your sources. If you're looking up the pros of becoming a vegetarian on a website titled something like "Eating Meat Sends You Straight To Hell", you've probably got some rather biased information on your hands. A good life rule: proceed with caution. 

The Mars Rovers. What a Great Opportunity!

Mars may be rather far away, but it is near and dear to my heart. Ever since I was in the fifth grade or there abouts and Mars was the closest to Earth that it had been in years, I've wondered about that cold red planet. What's it like there? Is the sky really pink? Are there aliens hiding there? Would we land a person on it in my lifetime? 

Well, we haven't had a human touch down yet, but so far, NASA has landed a whole family of rovers on the Martian surface. Opportunity, which was only supposed to stay in action for a couple months, has kept on trucking for 10 years! In addition to being surprisingly durable in Opportunity's case, these vehicles are extremely highly sophisticated machines with more features and tools than a Swiss Army knife. It can take a selfie. It can drive over harsh, rocky Martian terrane. It can scoop up rocks and determine the mineral composition. And it is this last feature that scientists have found very illuminating in recent months. 

While investigating rocks near the rim of the Endeavour Crater, Opportunity provided geologists with a lovely little nugget of information. The rocks there contained clay minerals--minerals that only form in aqueous environments with relatively neutral pHs. This aqueous environment could have potentially supported life way back in Martian history before the core froze, the planet turned into a freezing wasteland, the atmosphere all but dissipated, and the environment became generally unwelcoming. An environment possibly conducive to life. In our solar system! Oh, the feels. 

Not-So Sleepy Hollow.

Just like Ichabod Crane, this show popped out of no where and wandered into the middle of my unsuspecting life (much to my time management's chagrin). I had not seen any hype about during the summer, so when I stumbled upon it around 4 episodes in, I--honestly--did not have high expectations. Admittedly, therefore, the show did not have very far to go to exceed the low bar I set for it, but it FAR surpassed any hopes I had for it. 

While I don't think the show is necessarily revolutionary (haha, it's partially set during the Revolutionary war), its mixture of humor, terror, and eighteenth century culture is vastly appealing. Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is kind of like a RevolutionaryWar-version of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock from the BBC--snarky, mysterious, impossibly observant, improbably intelligent, and adorably devoid of an understanding of how people and the world work. His unshakeable love for his wife is a refreshing sight on primetime TV, and while he and his partner Abby do have a nice chemistry, I couldn't wait for Katrina to get out of Purgatory (it's a long story--watch the show). Abby Mills (Nicole Beharie) is another enigma of a character (though better dressed than her partner) with an intriguing combination of fierce loyalty and cool reserve. There's no way she'd give up on a friend, but even with a number of her co-workers down for the count (Okay fine, they're actually pretty darn dead), Abby never seems to lose her head. She really takes this whole "You're one of only two people able to keep the apocalypse at bay" thing in stride. I respect that--ain't nobody got time for hysterics. 

I have laughed out loud, and I have watched the majority of some episodes through my fingers because I was too scared. The show never ceases to terrify me and to amuse me--and the season finale kind of surprised me, but not that much. If you've seen it: did you really think they'd introduce a character of that magnitude and that'd be the end of it? Come on--think outside the box. See what I did there. If you watch, then you'll get it.

Well, in a stunning turn of events, I still have things to go do, so toddles! 

P.S. Any LBD fans out there--there's a special guest star in the season finale that you'll recognize. Hint: the character played by Tim Mison in Lost in Austen thinks her LBD character is an angel.

A Little Thing Called YouTube.

I happened to discover the YouTube community when referred to the Vlogbrothers by a friend before the bell rang in physics my senior year of high school. My friend was trying to explain to me what the Lizzie Bennet Diaries were because as fellow Austenites, we have an obligation to spread the news about up-and-coming adaptations and the like. The conversation went sort of like this: 

     "It's a vlog series of Pride and Prejudice started by Hank Green." 

     "Oh, cool! Yeah, who is that?"

     "You know, one of the Vlogbrothers?"

     "Oh...never heard of them."

     "They're on YouTube. They're kind of a big deal." 

     "Right. YouTube. That's where I watch Sail Kitty." 

     "God, what color is the rock you live under?" 

Okay, that has been paraphrased a wee-bit, but I would actually consider that a pretty accurate account. Anywho, determined to be ignorant no longer--if there's one thing I can't stand, it's to not know or understand things--I hopped onto YouTube that afternoon, or maybe it was an afternoon later that week. I can't quite remember the exact timing now. Hmm. I guess I really have become an adult because my mind has begun to fail me. Regardless, I tracked down the Vlogbrothers channel and watched a couple of their most recent videos. Imagine my surprise that such intelligence, wit, and concern for current affairs could be found on the same platform that I had previously used just to satiate my need for videos of cats knocking down toddlers or of amazing sports highlights. I was immediately hooked. I went back to their playlist for 2007 and began. Approximately 3 months later I reentered the world a new woman (with enhanced procrastination skills). 

YouTube is a slippery slope, however. I may have started with the Vlogbrothers, but I was soon entrenched in the LBD and Sanditon as well. When John Green went on paternity leave for the birth of his second child, many other YouTubers stepped in to fill the void. One of those lovelies was Grace Helbig from her DailyGrace channel. I may have been on the fence about her for a little bit--the humor was a tid-bit more crude than on the Vlogbrothers channel--but I soon overcame any little misgivings and joined the DailyGrace family. Grace said one time that (sung in a catchy tune) "Friends succeeded because it's so relatable!" and I found the exact same thing about her. She was an almost perfect mix of outright humor and more subtle irony, and her videos were a daily treat that could hold your Calculus homework at bay for approximately five minutes. And from Grace I discovered pretty much all the other YouTubers I have come to enjoy: Mamrie Hart, Hannah Hart, Zoella, Sprinkle of Glitter, Thatcher Joe, Jim Chapman, and Tanya Burr.

I have been absolutely loving the British YouTubers this fall. I do consider myself a bit of an Anglophile--I love Austen, Downton Abbey, Oscar Wilde, Will and Kate (and baby George now, yay!), and the whole history of that tiny island nation--and it is lovely to be able to peek into what living in modern England in like through the lenses of these people. Also, I adore their sense of humor. Some of the things Louise (Sprinkle of Glitter) says are spot on things that I would/have said myself. She is hysterical, and she and Zoella together are priceless. I'm also glad that having an obsession with candles is normal. I think this is why the internet succeeds: it manages to convince you that you aren't crazy and that you aren't alone. Even hipsters find communities of people like them, although I'm pretty sure that goes against the very definition of a hipster. 

Do not even get me started on the cuteness of Jim and Tanya though. This post is already rather long, so I'll stop before I even get started on them. 

I've just been so fortunate to stumble across these people this year. Even though I don't actually know any of them and probably never will, I feel somehow invested in their futures and concerned for their well-being. I laugh when they laugh, and if they have a bad day, I feel for them. I find myself checking the subscribers on It's Grace everyday to see how close she is to a million. Grace, I don't know you, but I'm sending you such warm wishes for your new channel! 

On that note, Toodles!

Beginnings.

I don't exactly know who I am. I've done exercises and been to retreats that have all tried to help me discover myself; however, at the end of the day, I remain as confused as ever. Let me try to explain: basically, whoever you need me to be, I will be. Well, within reason of course. I'm hoping to use this blog to document my sentiments as I go through college and experience life so that I can have a record of how I feel about things when they happen. And to clarify, I'm not just going to be ranting about my opinions on here. Think of it more as a repository of what I am currently enjoying and some brief tid-bits of what I'm going through. I'm not saying that it will be very interesting--although since it IS my life, fingers crossed--but with any luck, it will help me find a more sure sense of identity. Okay, Downton Abbey is coming on soon, so I've got to run.