Fantastic Duos!

This blog is dedicated to just what the title says, awesome pairs, famous collaborations... :D

First off: Itzhak Perlman, violinist, and Daniel Barenboim, pianist, play Brahms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L5nSwAND3Y

Next, one of my favorite movie-musical scenes: Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby in "White Christmas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YhTKiFEMAg
(Note: If you haven't seen the movie, you might want to watch this FIRST for context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYZbgG4D2oA)

Our next wonderful combination is: Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTy-4YRRwdY

(BONUS (!) for those who love the old classics: Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby in "High Society"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liSrzc_OdDw)

Now to a literary combination: Frank Peretti (the definitive Christian suspense writer) and Ted Dekker (the other big writer in that genre) combined to write House, which is one of the scariest books I have ever read - even rereading, when I already know what is going to happen, is scary!
It is really good! Don't go see the movie though. They take the Christian redemptive message out of the story and just make it a lame scary movie (or so I've heard. I haven't actually seen it.)
http://www.amazon.com/House-Frank-Peretti/dp/1595541551

Another combination is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - although well known in popular culture, not many people read stories beyond "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." I recently bought The Complete Sherlock Holmes and I am absolutely loving it. Here is a link that has the complete text of some of the short stories: http://www.mysterynet.com/holmes/more.shtml

Finally, two famous comic book duos: Calvin and Hobbes

(url if you cannot view the image: http://woodside.blogs.com/cosmologycuriosity/images/2007/06/05/calvin_hobbes_pascals_wager_pascal_.jpg)

And: Betty and Veronica from the Archie comics, which Sophia and I used to read

(http://archie-blogs.archiecomics.com/archie_news/bvd181_0.jpg)

I will leave you with "Anything you can do" a hilarious duet. It is originally from the musical "Annie Get Your Gun," but it is taken out of context in a wonderful way :) Performed by the wonderful Ruthie Henshall with John Barrowman
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJvPjelxxj0

Scary Noises at Night! dun dun duuuuun...

My sister and I see road kill at least one or two times on the way to school every single day. It's become a little ridiculous, but I suppose that's what comes with living in the woods! When you are winding through the trees on Freedom Boulevard, you are bound to see animal casualties I suppose.

Speaking of living in the woods, last night I was sitting in the exact same spot I am now, typing away at my government outline when i felt something tickle my foot. I looked down and shook my foot vigorously as I saw a cricket crawling across it. I shuddered briefly, but it did not really bother me. However, this same cricket I later realized could fly. While I was deeply engrossed in defining liberalism, the cricket swooped by my ear with an evil, menacing buzzing sound and startled me, diving at my face. I again shuddered, but did not realize it had landed on my shirt. I continued typing, and when the infernal insect finally jumped upwards less than an inch from my face and landed on my keyboard, I freaked out and ran away, wringing my hands in disgust.

This was not the end of the day's adventures. After dusk darkened into night, I heard a noise right outside on the front deck. It was shuffling and scratching, like a bear (except we don't have bears, so I assumed it was a raccoon). Of course, me being the mystery-novel-lover that I am, my mind immediately jumped to "What if it is a serial killer?" even though I knew very well that an experienced criminal would not make that much noise. I crept to the front door and listened (checking that it was locked). The scratching was very close, probably only a foot or two from where I was standing safe inside my house. I started to peer out the window, but when I realized I might see either a tall menacing stranger with a weapon and a psychological disorder or a pair of beady red eyes meeting mine, I stopped myself. Finishing my outline as quickly as I could, I turned out the lights and went to bed, figuring that a robber who came into our house while I was asleep (or feigning sleep) would be far less likely to confront me and cause me harm.

Needless to say, it was a while (and several more rustling noises, this time from another side of our house) before my adrenaline receded and I was able to fall asleep.

Why English is Weird

My mom teaches ESL (English as a Second Language) and it is often difficult for her students to learn tricky English grammar and pronunciation rules when they have spoken Spanish most of their lives. Native speakers often don't realize it, but English is a really hard language. Studying orderly, precisely organized Latin in seventh grade made me realize just how bizarre English can be.

Plural of knife is knives
Plural of life is lives
Plural of strife is strifes. or just strife.

Read this sentence: "I had a tough day; though I tried and tried, I could not get through the required reading for Moby Dick." How do you pronounce these words: "tough," "though," and "through"? (I start to feel like I have spelled them wrong after typing them all in a row.)

How do you pronounce "pay" and "say"?
Then how do you pronounce "paid" and "said"?

What is the plural of tooth? What is the plural of booth?

Saying "slim chance" or saying "fat chance" means the same thing, but a "wise man" is different from a "wise guy"

Teachers teach, and preachers preach. The teacher taught. The preacher... praught?

"overlook" means something completely different from "oversee"

A house that "burns up" is the same as a house that "burns down."

To "fill in" a form is to "fill out" a form.

"Quite a few" = "quite a lot"

We turn an alarm on so that it will "go off" the next morning.

I say: Why don't we all just learn Esperanto?