Book Review: And Tango Makes Three

Because I'm lazy and easily entertained, I love reading children's books. Always have, always will. I still harbor a great love for authors such as Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, etc.

And on another note, I always make an attempt to scan the banned books list to see if they've added anything new. When I say the best stuff is on that list (Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, 1984, etc.) I honestly mean that.

And on a third note, everyone likes penguins right?

What do those three things have in common? And Tango Makes Three that's what. Thus, I knew I had to read it.


THE BASICS: This book tells the tale of two cute little penguins living in Central Park Zoo named Roy and Silo who fall in love and are given an egg to raise by the zookeepers. The twist: Roy and Silo are both guys. The other twist: it's a true story.

THE CHARACTERS: Gay animals, although rare, do exist and Roy and Silo have become somewhat of a mascot for them. The duo are portrayed in a typical, children's book esque manner- cute, fluffy, and well-meaning. It's true that the real life story doesn't end quite as happily as the book implies (after a six year long relationship, Silo ran off with Scrappy, a female, leaving poor Roy alone and depressed to this day) but that's not the point of the book. Stories are watered down and happyfied all the time for children, so I find it perfectly fair that it's done to this one.

TECHNICAL STUFF: The language is simple but engaging and does a fabulous job at relating the endearing little tale. The illustrations might very well be my favorite part- it's been somewhat of a recent trend in children's books to contain suckish drawings, but And Tango Makes Three avoids this falling, and instead holds some of the cutest drawings I've seen in a kids book. Maybe it's just 'cause their penguins, which are adorable pretty much however you draw them. But either way, the illustrations are great.

THE THEME: And this is where the controversy falls. And Tango Makes Three portrays a child being raised by two fathers (and that part is true no matter how you view it; Roy and Silo broke up long after their daughter became an adult). However, what the haters hate to here is this: this book doesn't not actually encourage homosexuality. It simply presents it (Mildly, I should add, the fact that their both males is only touched upon. Tango is the focus of the story.) and then moves on and tells the story. The real theme of the story? Family love. It's about parents loving their child. And isn't that what you'd what to present to your children?

OVERALL: I love this book. I say that a lot. But rarely does the statement fit so accurately. I wish that instead of reading the undeserved, scathing reviews regarding it's themes (because they all have to admit that from a technical standpoint, the book is very well done) written by people who like to get into a tussle about stupid things, people would instead actually read the book. It took me about two minutes at the library to read through. And you know what? It was one of the best two minutes of my life.

GRADE: A

Would I let my sister read it? Totally. Not ever up for questioning.
Would I let my cousin read it? Yes.
Would I let my dad read it? Yes.

Random Blurb: The Sims 2

As you've probably gathered by now, I get bored a lot. I mentioned previously that I've recently come across this thing known as "time", although the more accurate term would be labeled "free time", and, as you've also probably figured out either from previous posts or from the title of this one, I do strange things when I'm bored. Such as play Sims 2.
Aw Sims 2. How I really generally despise thee so. Except sometimes when I enjoy you. It's not a healthy relationship.

Anyway, my sister's got this game about a year ago. I played it for two days, got bored, and never touched it again.

That is, until Christmas, when my sister's got the Pets Expansion.

(That's one thing that kind of bugs me about the game. I mean, you buy the game itself, but it's not actually fun until you starting paying for all the various expansions, which I swear, pretty much cover every subject known to man. You got Sims Nightlife, Sims Pets, Sims "Open for Business", Sims HotDate, Sims University, Sims Season, etc. I swear, the list does not end.)

Anyway, them getting this expansion reminded me that we actually owned the game, and I, being the strange sadist that I am, started thinking. And, as you know, that can be very dangerous. I started wondering about all the horrible, twisted, borderline-illegal things you could potentially do on this game, and decided to give it a nasty whirl. So, I created a family with varying ages, genders, and relationships, and went on my merry way.

Sadly, it wasn't as scandalous as I thought.

You can't do anything illegal (no incest, no adult/child relationships- Hey, don't give me that look. These are fake, computer people K? You would try these things too), and although you can be a professional thief as a career, you can't actually follow them to work, so I don't really know all the details of their jobs. I don't have that expansion pack.

However, you can have gay sims, make your sims have affairs, make your sims have like, 50 different lovers, etc. I'm actually rather impressed with the amount of freedom you do have. Most people based video games (I'm looking at you Harvest Moon, bane of my existence that you are, but that's a post of a different color) generally have a set amount of goals or a place you'll end up or even just a plot in general. Not so for this one. Within the bounds of legality, you're pretty much limitless. Especially if you cheat, which frankly, is the only fun way to play this game.

Also, building houses is actually way entertaining. Seriously, I've built some pretty bombin' things.

So you're probably thinking, "Shauntel, you've really only said good things so far about this game. Doesn't that make it, you know, good?" The answer is yes... and no. My biggest question/concern is "who the heck was this thing meant for"?

Understand, this is something I only play maybe twice a month. Most teenagers would probably play only slightly more, more than likely less if not at all. Adults would have little interest. So is it for kids? No, 'cause this game is kinda naughty. Can it be played innocently? Sure. But will it be? Naw.

So that's really the question of the universe at this point: Why? Why does this game exist? Why do people think it's fun?

Admittedly I don't really know. What I do know is that it does exist and that it is fun.

Sometimes.

Anyway, I gots ta go. Two of my lovely gay sims (they're not "married"- apparently it's referred to as "joined") are in the process of adopting another baby. So yeah.

PS: I like comments. You should leave some. Just so I know you're there.

My ACT Adventure

As you probably gathered from the title, I took the ACT test. And let me tell you, it was.... interesting.

Saturday: April 10th:

5:05 AM- My alarm clock starts blaring annoyingly. I shut it off, and mentally smack myself for forgetting to turn it off.

6:45 AM- My mother enters my room and wakes me up. Sorta. But I, being a teenager...

7:00 AM- ...take at least 10-15 minutes longer than the rest of the world to actually become conscious.

7:15 AM- I'm totally prettied up and ready to leave.

7:25 AM- Mom and I drive through McDonald's for breakfast. I marvel at just how greasy the wrapper is.

7:35 AM- I arrive at the school giving the test.

7:36 AM- I'm really mad about how long the line is to register. I mean seriously, it's fifty feet long and I'm a half hour early!

7:37 AM- I text my friend. WTF R U?!?!????

7:39 AM- I spot the friend in question. She's 49 feet ahead of me in line.

7:55 AM- I finally reach the registration desk. So far, so good.

8:08 AM- One of my buddies asks me to check the time. We all wonder why in the heck we havn't been let into the building, despite being 8 minutes overtime.

8:10 AM- Two of my friends, one wearing a Team Edward shirt, the other sporting Team Jacob, start dissing the other's clothing.

8:11 AM- I bring up Jacob's airbrushed abs and Edward's unnervingly bi-colored nipples. Neither of them can disagree.

8:20 AM- We're finally let into the test center and split up into rooms. Only one of my friends is with me.

8:30 AM- We're assigned seats and given a booklet and answer document. We're then informed we have to wait some more because two of the peeps in our room haven't arrived yet.

8:45 AM- We start without them.

9:00 AM- We finally- finally- get through filling out the stupid thing and hearing the proctor read the instructions 36 times. I open my booklet...

9:02 AM- I realize, with joy, that the entire first section is on grammar. I smile, knowing this will be a breeze.

9:17 AM- The freaking "Hosanna" song from Jesus Christ Superstar is stuck in my head. It's very distracting.

9:45 AM- The proctor announces it's time to stop testing. I'm happy, because I finished 5 minutes ago and seriously knew the answer to every single one. Yay for potential scholarships.

9:46 AM- I realize, amusingly, that none of the students will stand up during the short break between tests unless someone else does it first. Tired of sitting, I decide to be that someone.

9:55 AM- The math test is next. I mentally groan.

9:56 AM- I realize delightfully that I know how to do the first problem. Maybe this won't be so bad afterall.

9:57 AM- Nevermind. It's bad.

10:21 AM- This time, "One Song Glory" from Rent is playing in my head. Strangely, it's the German version that keeps running through, which is actually good. The words don't distract me so much (since I can't, you know, understand them) and, as much as I love Adam Pascal from the English one, nothing beats Roger when he's played by the gorgeousness that is John Partridge. 'Cept for maybe when he was Electra. Or maybe when he was in that opera. That was in German too...

10:22 AM- I realize I should probably be focusing on irrational numbers as opposed to irrational loves...

10:55 AM- The test is over. My brain starts to melt out my ears.

10:56 AM- We're allowed to wander the hallways for ten minutes and get our minds off the test. It doesn't work.

11:08 AM- My friend and I creep back into the testing room and pray that the proctor lady doesn't notice we were late. She doesn't.

11:09 AM- As the teacher continues explaining the ridiculous amount of rules surrounding the test, my mind starts to wander. I think about how grateful I am that, despite the minor distractions the previous songs in my head had caused, there hadn't yet been anything detrimentally annoying or distracting lodged in there yet. Such as "Sweet Trans-" Crap. No. Get out!

11:10 AM- Start on the reading comprehension test. No big deal right? Sure, until you factor in that we only have 35 minutes. And 40 questions. Which, you know, wouldn't be a big deal (we had like 70 questions and 45 minutes for the grammar test) 'cept we have to read some stupid 2 page essay before answering the questions. And there's like 5 of them. Whee...

11:28 AM- The proctor announces the halfway point. I realize, in surprise and horror (Rocky Horror that is, 'cause that song is still there), that I'm exactly halfway done and had better get a move on if I'm going to finish with any time left over.

11: 35 AM- Shut up Tim Curry. Just shut up.*

11: 45 AM- The reading comprehension test is over. And oh my gosh my heart is pounding. I seriously was like speeding. See, I probably would have done great if they'd, you know, not given me less than a minute per question maybe? I mean really guys. Ridiculous.

11: 46 AM- Eh, the science test. I'm not worried. More curious than anything. 'Cause seriously, what's even going to be on it?

11:47 AM- Aw fudgemonkey. Graphs. So no, it's not science. It's basically math comprehension. Which I suppose is appropriate since the previous was reading comprehension, but still. Come on.

12:01 PM- Oh my gosh. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. I am so behind.

12:07 PM- Have finally accepted that I'm not actually going to finish in time. Time to make pictures with the bubble answers!

12:08 PM- I've decided drawing pictures probably isn't the best way to fudge on a college entrance exam...

12:10 PM- Have resorted to simply skipping all the questions I don't know. Might as well do what I can right?

12:13 PM- Realize that my blood sugar has dropped to "eat you moron, or you're gonna collapse" level.

12:20 PM- The time is up for the "science" test. And if you thought my heart rate has high before...

12:21 PM- Our booklets are collected. We're allowed a few minutes break before the essay portion.

12:30 PM- The essay prompt is passed out, but it's sealed shut. I pray that it's actually something I care about.

12:31 PM-(The following portion has been deleted due to the fact that I'm not supposed to disclose the topic for the essay. Yeah stupid, I know, but I'd like my test to be valid thank you very much.)

12:55 PM- I'm done with the essay, and darn if it weren't easy.

1:00 PM- Time is up for the essay. Suddenly it dawns on me- I'm done. I'm free!

1:01 PM- I'm not free. 'Cause I still have to wait for mom to show up...

1:08 PM- K, I'm free. For realz this time. And oh my gosh I'm exhausted. I realize that my plans for finishing my homework this evening are probably null and void...

1:15 PM- Mommy and I eat at Chipotle. And it's delicious. Also, we feed the little birdies some rice. And it's cute to watch them.

Whew, and that's it. Let us pray I never have to do it again...

*No offense to Tim Curry. I usually like him. It's just that, at that moment, he was singing what will go down in history as probably the most distracting song in the history of the universe. Sorry Dr. Frank, but your song has no melody.