EK 16: Year End Chart

Ok, I have not blogged in a long time, but I think I should post my year-end chart (because all of the charts are doing so as well) This chart is specific to me only, I believe, and does not emulate any other chart other than my personal opinion.

Frame By Frame - Cassadee Pope

1. [Wasting All These Tears] - Cassadee Pope
Love Cassadee Pope! I am so proud that she was able to break "The Voice" bubble by having both a gold single, and a silver album! (685k single sales to date [Dec. 11, 2013], and 110k album sales to date [Dec. 11, 2013]) Her album, Frame by Frame, is out now, and it is very good! It's a unique mix of pop rock and country which produces new and modern songs.

Rating: A- (would have received A+ had she wrote it)

Pure Heroine - Lorde

2. [Team] - Lorde
Lorde is taking the world by the storm! Super impressive first single, Royals, but for me, Team is 10x better.

Rating: A

Night Visions - Imagine Dragons

3. [Bleeding Out] - Imagine Dragons
To clarify, I have known them since way before their Night Visions album came out. They are one of my favorite rock bands and are sincerely amazing.

Rating: A+

Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne

4.[Here's to Never Growing Up] - Avril Lavigne
Thus begins the list of guilty pleasures... This song was one of my faves for the summer, and it's just a feel good song.

Rating: B

Falling in Love - 2NE1

5. [Falling in Love] - 2NE1
First of the Kpops! While this is not my favorite song from them this year, (Missing You is), it has been the longest on my personal charts as well as retaining it likability.

Rating: A-

PRISM - Katy Perry

6. [Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)] - Katy Perry
Another guilty pleasure, gosh, this song is just awesome with its bass and synths, and I had no idea Katy could do something like this. (First day it came out)

Rating: A

Pink Tape - f(x)

7. [Rum Pum Pum] - f(x)
While I love this awesome Kpop band, I still feel like its a marketing strategy rather than a genuine group. Nonetheless, they make great electronic Kpop music and I lurv it.
Rating: B-

We Remain - Christina Aguilera

8. [We Remain] - Christina Aguilera
I am a huge fan of Christina, especially with The Voice, but also with her music. This was a pleasant surprise because I was expecting a much more poppy song. The movie, Catching Fire, is fantasticccc, and this song truly conveys the message of the movie.

Rating: A

Reflektor - Arcade Fire

9. [Reflektor] - Arcade Fire
I have known Arcade Fire for a while (ever since the 2010 Grammys), but have never actually listened to them. Starting with this free song from Starbucks, I have grown to love the band. Quality song. Quality band.

Rating: A-

Burn - Ellie Goulding

10. [Burn] - Ellie Goulding
I was super pumped for this summer song as well, but I was a tad bit disappointed for two reasons. 1) It is not composed by her. 2) It was taken from Leona Lewis because she no longer wanted the song
Still a great song with great beats.

Rating: B-

Hard 2 Love - Lee Brice

11. [I Drive Your Truck] - Lee Brice
I usually have more country on the charts, but no other song has stuck around longer than I Drive Your Truck. It is probably the best country song of the year, yes beating Cassadee. Love this song, great meaning and message.

Rating: A+

Make it Up - Sam Tsui

12. [Bring Me the Night (feat. Kina Grannis)] - Sam Tsui
While I usually have more independent/Youtube songs, not many have stuck around for a long time, this one included. I thought that this song was really good, but it wasn't radio ready. I am ok with that because I don't really listen to the radio. The harmonies and emotions truly convey a genuine message.

Rating: B+

Night Visions - Imagine Dragons

13. [Demons] - Imagine Dragons
This is either my second favorite or third favorite off the album. It's solid and rising up on the charts!

Rating: A-

Same Trailer Different Park - Kacey Musgraves

14. [Merry Go' Round] - Kacey Musgraves
She is so awesome. She brings new dark elements to country that have not yet been explored. She represents true country innovation.

Rating: A

ARTPOP - Lady GaGa

15. [Gypsy] - Lady GaGa
Last of the guilty pleasures. I honestly though that ARTPOP was not that great, other than a few songs. This was by far the best. Good clean message, unlike her other songs, and its fun. (Yes, alternative album cover present [I like it more, and it's more appropriate])

Rating: A+

Is Anybody Out There? - A Great Big World 

16. [Say Something ] - A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera
This song barely made the charts, and I have literally no idea why. This song probably should have charted much higher, but it was such a late song, so no dice. My friend recommended me this song the day before it aired on The Voice. I love it so much!

Rating: A-


Hope you enjoyed this playlist/year-end chart! Have a great new year and Merry Christmas! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I haven't written this year, so happy new year!

Sweet Potato Fries

One of my favorite kind of fries are them sweet potatoes fries. They are nice and tasty and they're fried. I like them because they bring a sweet element to the already bit salty.  

So what you need to do first it peel them sweet potatoes. It's that easy. Then you need to cut the ends off, no one likes the tasty brown ends.

Then you need to slice them in to long thin pieces and add a tiny bit of salt, just a tiny bit. Don't wash the potatoes or they will end up funny.

Now add the potatoes into a big pot of oil about 10-15 fries at a time or else they will stick to each other and break up into smaller pieces.

First batch done! (yes, some snacking was involved) Make sure you take them out when they are the right color and put them on a paper towel so the oil will drain.

FRY SOME MORE

YUMMY

The Voice Season 3 Live Playoffs 1b

I have to be honest, I am not excited for Team Cee Lo and just a little bit excited for Team Xtina.

Ones to Look Out For:

Dez Duron, Trevin Hunte, Mackenzie Bourg

Maybes:

De'Borah, Devyn DeLoera, Nicholas David

MacKenzie Bourg - What Makes You Beautiful

Cody Belew - One More Try

De'Borah - Who Knew

Devyn DeLoera - Bleeding Love

Dez Duron - Wanted

Trevin Hunte - How Am I Supposed to Live Without You

Diego Val - Bailamos

Sylvia Yacoub - The One That Got Away

Nicholas David - You're the First, the Last, My Everything

Adriana Louise - Firework

The Will of Time

"But on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin"

Well, I thought I needed some more original works. Well, there is a reason why this short story isn't that great. First, I wrote this in seventh grade on a Wednesday in a cafe in Hong Kong. No joke, I wrote this story at a Pacific Coffee Company with an iced mocha with a double shot of chocolate. Second, my writing skills aren't that great, and did I mention seventh grader? or maybe eight grader.. not sure, but here is "The Will of Time"

Book One of The Seigan Series: The Will of Time                                by Ethan Kwok

The world shakes when I walk by, volcanoes erupt and the earth quakes. It is I, the great and powerful Timeothy. He is Father Time's evil twin brother. People think that Father Time controls time, but Timeothy did away with him years ago. Timeothy now controls the universe. He tried to kill Father Time, but since Father Time couldn't die, he stole his powers and locked him away in a secret dungeon. You may think that Timeothy's goal is to take over the world, but no, that is not the case. He merely wants to destroy a will.

             The will belongs to a man who has been missing for a long time. His name is Ling Fong. He was a fisherman in Southeastern China for a long time, all his life. He was a poor fellow, never became very rich. He got married when he was twenty-three and his wife conceived a girl when he was thirty. They lived a mediocre life. One day while at sea with his family, he and his daughter disappeared. His wife was found unconscious on the boat. During questioning, the wife, whose name was Ling Ti, kept screaming in gibberish. Eventually, they took her to the nut house, where she lived the rest of her days. What happened to Ling Fong and his daughter? Well... that's what this story is about.

            Ling Fong and his daughter, Ling Mui, had no idea where they were. They could speak to each other, but they knew something was extremely wrong. What they didn't know, was that  while they were swimming, they were swept into a whirlpool portal. It immediately disappeared with them. They were taken to Timeothy's palace in a galaxy far away. Ling Fong soon realized he had the power to do things to Earth. At first, he picked some fruit and teleported it to him, for they were very hungry. Then, more serious things happened, he stole several billion dollars and put them in a Swiss account, he stole the White House and positioned it near them, and he spinned the Earth so fast, it was a whole year ahead in one minute. Timeothy was visiting Father Time in prison when he felt the universe spinning faster. He immediately went back to his palace and found Ling Fong and Ling Mui. He killed Ling Fong, but Ling Mui found an exit portal and escaped. Timeothy cursed his bad luck. He immediately erased Ling Mui's mind, but unfortunately for him, he erased a different Ling Mui's mind. What Timeothy didn't know was that Ling Fong wrote an account of where he was and what he did, and put it in a document in is will. It drained some of Timeothy's power and FDNA (Foreign DNA) along with it. Timeothy went back into his palace and took a nap, even though he was immortal he needed to sleep.

            Ling Mui awoke in a different place, but she knew she was on Earth. When she was in Timeothy's secret world, some of his power rubbed on her. Now she could speak any language fluently and she had the ability to sense danger. What she didn't know, was that she had more powers that were stored in a dormant part of her brain. She knew her father was dead, and she wanted to locate him. She walked for miles and miles and realized she was in the United States. She wanted to change her name for fear of Timeothy, so she changed her name to Lucy Lim. She eventually arrived in Los Angeles. She realized she still had millions of dollars on her from when she stole it from a bank from Timeothy's palace. She knew it was wrong to use the money, but she had no choice, where else could she get money? She was starving, so she went to a Chinese restaurant. She bought some dumplings and gobbled them up quickly. She ordered some more and after eating her tenth dumpling, she noticed a handsome man staring at her. He approached her and introduced himself. He told her his name was Rob Deline. They talked for a long time and eventually he gave her his number. Immediately, Lucy bought a cellphone and wanted to call him, but she thought that would be awkward. Instead, she forged an I.D. and a passport. She found a motel and decided to spend the night there. She took a shower and fell asleep as soon as she touched her bed.

            Lucy decided to call Rob and he answered with a pleasant greeting. He invited her on a date and she accepted. That was the beginning of their wonderful relationship. Lucy loved Rob and Rob loved Lucy. After three months of dating, Rob proposed. They got married a month later. It all looked so perfect. Lucy gave birth to a boy, and they named him Ken Ling Deline. Rob asked for the reason of naming his middle name Ling, but Lucy told him it was a random name she thought sounded pretty. Ken was born into a good home. What Lucy did not know was that Ken was born with a supernatural power of his own, the power to control certain minds. In this case he could control Merc, Timeothy's aid. Ken did not know he had this power until he was 22. The family prospered and was at peace.

            Lucy was upset she couldn't tell her husband about her past and her current abilities, but what could she do? One day she decided to tell him, so she told her everything, from the boat to the palace to her father. She even mentioned her powers, and that Ken's middle name was her old family name. Rob was a bit silent, but he did not seem mad. Then he asked the single most important question.

            "Is Ken affected?" Lucy was silent. She actually didn't know whether Ken had inherited her powers. She knew she had to find out, but how? She was so frightened by the fact that Ken had powers too. She wondered whether Ken had new powers she didn't have.

            Ken felt something tingling in his brain, hef felt strange, very strange, he had quick visions of a weird place.It looked so foreign. He also felt like he was in somebody when he had the visions, like he could control them. He promised he would find the reason behind all this, but how?

            Merc also felt weird that day. He would walk toward a place, but then he would go in a different direction. Merc as Timeohy's right-hand man, without him, Timeothy would not have been able to lock Father Time up.  He served his boss full-heartedly, well almost full-heartedly, he secretly wished he had the power to control time. He wanted to rule the world; he secretly vowed he would over throw Timeothy and rule the world himself.

            Timeothy was laying in his bed and was staring at the ceiling. He wondered what happened to little Ling Mui. He wanted to know really bad, so he checked The Book of Names this was his special book that had everyone's name in it. It could locate the person and gave a full identification. He checked the Ling Mui he brainwashed and he saw her in a nursing home, she was not very old, but yet she was there. Timeothy kept staring at her, he knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what. He stared closer and noticed he had brainwashed the wrong person. (Since the encounter with the Lings, Timeothy had been losing power. He could no longer brainwash.) He was furious, simply furious. He looked at all the other Ling Mui's in the world and could not find her. There was someone out there who knew who he was, his powers, his location. He summoned Merc and together they scanned through the six billion plus entries in the book for Ling Mui. This took quite a while, even with Timeothy speeding time and all. Eventually, 3 days later, they found their "Ling Mui" she matched all the criteria and look the exact same. Her name was now Lucy Seigan Deline, Seigan being her maiden name.  Seigan, what could that mean? Timeothy asked the book to pronounce the name. The book pronounced it exactly right. "Seigan is Chinese for time", said Timeothy, "Let's go find our Ling Mui, Merc!"

            Lucy knew something was wrong, really wrong, she could sense it in her through her power. She had to get her and her family to safety, but how? She had a plan, a great plan, she had to find out what power Ken had, so she asked him. Ken told her about the power to control someone's mind. He told her about the visions and everything. He once over heard that the guy's name was Merc, and the guy talking to him was Timeothy. Lucy was happy. Her plan would work accordingly.

            Timeothy was quickly approaching the Deline residence when Merc stabbed Timeothy. Tmeothy screamed in pain, but the wound quickly healed. Merc, controlled by Ken, jumped on top of Timeothy and blinded him by rubbing some poison onto his eyes. Then Merc suddenly fell backwards and passed out. Timeothy ran towards Merc and also fell down and passed out.

            Lucy suddenly jumped out of her house and immediately drugged Timeothy and decided it was time to end all the horror and fear in her life. She took Merc and thought to herself, “It is for the best that I get rid of this man so my son will no longer be able to control anyone.” She pulled out a weapon out of Timeothy’s cloak and strikes Merc with it. Merc immediately stands up and starts weeping. Lucy had struck him with a cancerous weapon. Merc now had cancer and had 7-8 months to live, and that is the last we hear about Merc. He went back to the palace, made some calls, wait, he didn’t have family... He didn’t make calls, and he traveled the world. Well, his world was Timeothy’s palace, so he traveled there.

            Lucy was shocked. She had meant to hurt Merc, but never would have realized why as soon as she hit Merc, her heart would hurt so badly. She felt the biggest sense of fear and danger as of yet. The power that Ken had to control people had backfired. It had created an indefinite link between Merc and Ken. Ken now had cancer as well. Lucy thought things couldn’t have gone any worse, and usually when one sees that line, one knows it gets worse. Well, it does. Timeothy had awoke from his slumber and had killed Lucy’s husband, Rob. Lucy fell on the ground and started to sob furiously. Then she screamed out, “Ken, Ken, where are you?” She looked around and saw that Timeothy and Ken were both gone. Lucy ran into the house and was getting ready to go find them when everything went black...

<to be continued... or maybe not... CLIFFHANGER OOH!>

<what happened to Timeothy and Ken?>

<is Rob really dead?>

<why is the author’s teacher’s name used in this story?>

<why so many questions?>

The Voice Season 3 Live Playoffs 1a

Team Adam and Team Blake up to bat!

Adam Levine's Team: Amanda Brown, Bryan Keith, Loren Allred, Melanie Martinez, Joselyn Rivera

Blake Shelton's Team: Cassadee Pope, Terry McDermott, Michaela Paige, Julio Cesar Castillo, Liz Davis

Ones to Look Out For:

Bryan Keith

Melanie Martinez

Cassadee Pope

Terry McDermott

Maybe:

Michaela Paige

Amanda Brown

Joselyn Rivera

Liz Davis

Amanda Brown - Dream On

Bryan Keith - Iris

Julio Cesar Castillo - El Rey

Terry McDermott - Don't Stop Believin'

Michaela Paige - Everybody Talks

Joselyn Rivera - Give Your Heart a Break

Cassadee Pope - My Happy Ending

Melanie Martinez - Hit the Road Jack

The Voice Knockout Rounds

Wow, I really think that this addition to the show wasn't my favorite. It is way too easy to get eliminated. A lot of wrong decisions on the show this week.

Wrongs:
1) Joe Kirkland vs. Bryan Keith
I really liked both in the blind auditions, but in my opinion, Bryan has been getting progressively worse. Joe has been consistent, I think that both have a great chance at lives, but I think that Joe could have done better.

2) Diego Val vs. Caitlin Michele
Caitlin should have won hands down.

3) Aquile vs. Sylvia Yacoub
Honestly liked both, but two strong pairings means one has to go home.

4) Gracia Harrison vs. Liz Davis
Really think Gracia should have won.

WORST ONE
5) Julio Cesar Castillo vs. MarissaAnn
MarissaAnn was sooo good but Julio was very meh...

Adriana Louise - Already Gone

Amanda Brown - Paris (Ooh La La)

Bryan Keith - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Cassadee Pope - Payphone

Cody Belew - Jolene

De'Borah - You Found Me

Devyn DeLoera - I Have Nothing

Dez Duron - Stuck On You

Diego Val - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Joselyn Rivera - Love On Top

Julio Cesar Castillo - Somebody to Love

Liz Davis - Gunpowder and Lead

Loren Allred - You Know I'm No Good

MacKenzie Bourg - Call Me Maybe

Melanie Martinez - Bulletproof

Michaela Paige - Love Is a Battlefield

Nicholas David - Put Your Records On

Sylvia Yacoub - Fighter

Terry McDermott - Maybe I'm Amazed

Trevin Hunte - Against All Odds