TV: It's just another way to tell a story, right?

Oh my goodness. How many times in my life have I heard someone tell young people (or me!) to "turn off the TV and open a book?" Or, you know, something similar?

How many times have you heard that television rots your brain? And then wanted to charge at the person making this claim like a velociraptor at a cocky paleontologist?

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love books. I mean, well, duh, I write books! I have a house full of books! Books are sort of my life. But you know what else I love?

TV.

I love TV on DVD. I love that I can use my DVR to record shows that are on at the same time. I love that there are funny shows and serious shows and documentary shows and sci fi shows. I love that there are all these stories that I can watch.

So why does TV get a bad rap? Why do so many of us think of it as a "low" art form, or as a hobby for the feeble-minded? Like, okay, The Jersey Shore exists. I'll admit it. But so does The X Files. So does House. So does Scrubs.

And, yeah, books might be easy to pin as a high art, because you have to read them. But, come on, not to lay the smack down on anyone, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that GOSSIP GIRL isn't particularly literary. (And I'm putting this out there because I'm like 99.9% sure that creator Cecily von Ziegesar would agree with me. I hope.) Does this fact stop jillions of readers from being entertained by the books? No.

Books are a form of entertainment, too. Sure, sometimes books are going to be what I like to call "meat and potatoes" books. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA -- you know, award-winny types. Entertaining and also enriching. Then there are what I like to call "candy bar books" -- the books we read for funsies and sometimes consider guilty pleasures. Books without many SAT words but with superfluous kissing scenes or maybe epic gun fights. Do these books change your world? Probably not. And that's cool.

So what makes books better than TV? What makes them sacred? Like, okay, there are lots of reasons that books are different, ways that without seeing the pictures on your screen you might have to use your imagination more while you're reading. But have you ever watched an episode of your favorite show and felt just so inspired? Just wowed? The same way you feel after you finish a good book?

TV and books are different ways to tell a story. But when it comes down to it, a story is a story. Why can't we love both, treat them equally, and call it a day? Why do we think certain things can go on TV but "don't belong" in books? Why are books on a pedestal, guys? I want to know.

What's your THING?

Hi everyone! This is my first post at Ye Olde YA Five, so I thought I'd give you a little background. I mean, some seriously deep recon stuff. Like, actual excerpts from my teenage journals. I recently posted some scans on my own blog, at The Hate-Mongering Tart, and they were a hit, so here I am to share MORE craziness from The Dark Ages.

But here's the thing. As much as you couldn't PAY me to be a teen again, it wasn't all bad. Sure, I had a separate diary in which I wrote about the tough stuff and my struggles with depression and my fights with my parents and woes about the elusive beast known as Sean O'Leary (hi, Sean. This girl? You missed out. Bummer for you!) -- but I had this OTHER set of journals where I wrote about my THING. My THING -- and I think everyone has one, especially as a teen -- was pop music. Oh man I knew everything about pop music. I even eventually had a job at a record store where I used my mad skillz to sell awesome under-appreciated music to the masses. But I digress.

Okay, so, like I was saying. Being in high school can be kind of a total bummer. Mean kids, homework, nasty teachers, coaches on your case to be biggerbetterfasternow and all that jazz. And I wasn't in with the in crowd, and lived in a small town in Maine, so this lead to a lot of entertaining myself with one or two friends on the weekends. A lot of the best times I had were writing about music in my journals with my best friend, Fiona, and any other kids I could rope into joining us. All our inside jokes are there, our obsessions, our loves, our annoyances. I swear to God, I was Rob from HIGH FIDELITY, except for the fact that I was a teen girl with very few exes.

Anyway, the images that I've posted to correspond with this post are from various volumes of my journal. There's that first one there where I drew me and Fiona's pretend band the Cinnamin Twists (yes, spelling a word wrong makes your band name cooler) which features actor Seth Green on bass. We loved him. We still do. We stayed up all night listening to the radio broadcast of Woodstock '99 and drew all these pictures of our imaginary adventure. Then you've got one of the intros to my monthly music reviews, where I'd talk about goings on in music and review my new CDs. Did this lead to my college career as a music columnist? You decide! Then I have a fun list for you -- the entirety of my Songs of the Month for 1999-2000. I did this every year and put little reasons as to why I picked the songs. You can see that list below.


So here's what I want from you: what's YOUR thing? And do you journal about it? Blogs totally count. It makes me sad that teens don't seem to paper journal anymore. Which leads me to my challenge: START A FREAKING PAPER JOURNAL. Do it with your friends! Write about your THING or your collective THINGS and savor it and cherish it. I swear, when you grow up to be a badass YA author/music journalist/lawyer/artist/software engineer/whatever you choose to be, there is VALUE in these journals.

And for the grown-up readers: I double dog dare you to post your teen journal on your blog. No blog? Post a scan/excerpt in the comments. Like I said, DOUBLE DOG DARE.

Rate This Book

I'm not a big fan of censorship.  I tend to think that people can self-censor, that is, if they don't like something just put it down (in the case of a book) or turn it off (in the case of everything else).  Whenever someone brings up the tired "But what about the children?!?" I usually snicker and say that's what parents are for.  Adults should try to censor what their kids are exposed to until the kids are smart enough to sneak around and do it without getting caught.

Not that I advocate sneaking around, but that's how it usually goes, so whatever.

But last week I had an event happen that got me thinking about censorship, and what it might mean to writers in the future.

The incident was at my local library.  I was checking out two books:  Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan and Blood Promise by Richelle Mead.  As I checked the books out the librarian looked at me and said "We don't recommend this book for children younger than fourteen."  Because I was totally checking the books out for a little kid, not myself.

Yeah, right.

Anyway I nodded, thinking she was talking about Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  I live in a pretty conservative area, so censorship isn't unexpected, especially if the g-word is involved (and I don't mean grape).  But then I realized she was talking about Blood Promise.

Huh?

If you haven't read the book I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say if it were a movie Blood Promise would get at most a PG-13.  Will Grayson, Will Grayson, while amazing, starts swearing on the second page.  How does kissing compare to liberal use of the f-bomb?

I don't know, but it makes me wonder why the warning for the Richelle Mead book and not for the Green/Levithan.  Maybe it's because Blood Promise has been out longer than Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  Maybe kissing is more offensive than cussing.  More importantly, who gets to decide, and why?

I am firmly anti-rating and pro-chucking the book across the room in disgust if it offends.  But how do you feel?  Do you want warnings on your book like the recording industry (warning: this book is chock full o' awesome)?  Or are the age ranges usually posted above the UPC enough (note:  not all books have these age ranges)?  Our is this just another way adults try to control what everyone under the age of eighteen does?

Does anyone even care as long as Rose and Dimitri end up happily ever after?

Leave your angry ramblings after the beep.  :)

BEEP!

This week's burning question is--What movie did you see last?

Kelly Barnhill

Steph Bowe
Slumdog Millionaire.

I missed it at the cinemas, and just got it on DVD - it's brilliant and I recommend everybody who hasn't already seen it go out and get it NOW. Seriously.

K.A. Holt
Moon.

Pretty creepy and enjoyable. I wanted to know more about the back story, though. I'd love to read a book about the world and the time in which Moon takes place.

(I don't like saying "in which". Sounds weird. Unless you read that sentence in an vaguely European accent. Then maybe it sounds better.)

Justina Ireland

Zombieland. I know it's a couple years old, but I rarely get to the theaters anymore (helloooo, TBR pile!)

I liked it. I laughed, although I kept expecting the lead actor to turn into Michael Cera.

Georgia McBride

Percy Jackson: The Lighting Thief.

Sara McClung
Alice in Wonderland. LOVE LOVE LOVED this movie!

Cristin Terrill

Percy Jackson. I took my nine-year-old sister, and she promptly declared it to be her favourite movie of all time.

We'll be back soon with more burning questions. In the mean time, tell us what you think of the above films or add to this list by telling us: What movie did YOU see last?