So, my host informed me today that they’re upgrading everybody’s “platform” to something spiffier, but we won’t be able to edit our sites from January 18th to January 25.

I’m all for the upgrade, I mean, I was ticked the heck off when I found hacked spam files floating around in my directories (which, btw, killed my Google rank…), but this means that I can’t make any updates or add patches to my Q*Bee quilt if I trade with anyone.

I’ll try to squeeze in some updates before then, but I just wanted to give everybody a heads up.

So, uh, anybody up for possibly joining a spiffy fourm anytime soon? Aha, I’m going to ask that until I get enough of the responses I want .

Happy (belated) Holidays and Happy New Year! I know, I know, I’m pretty late…but I’m fashionably late . Literally. Thanks to my own management, I’ve been busy with a bunch of modeling jobs. I’m super excited to see what 2oo8 is going to bring, since it seems like my hard work is finally starting to pay off.

2oo8 is also going to bring some nifty things to Little-Penguin, and I swear I’d love to start up a forum/community again if enough people show interest (WINK, WINK…let me know if you’d join! Aha). Mikey is going to be blogging every now and then to beef up the entertainment-related sections of the site, and I’m going to be adding more non-blog content and interactive things. Sound fun? Duh…of course it does!

Before I get into all of the goodies I got during Christmas time, I want to mention The Quilting Bee. I feel terrible because I told the other bees that I’d write myself a reminder note to remember to blog on the “Official Quilting Bee Blog Day”…but I forgot to write the reminder - doh! The Quilting Bee is a fun, interactive pixel trading club, and it’s been around forever. It’s totally cute and fun and I’ve met so many cool people through it…if you’re not already a member then you should definitely check it out by clicking on the button below. If you wanna check out my quilt, click here, and if you are already a member, then trade with me!

Some of the goodies I got this year at Christmas were a penguin clock (it’s adorable, from Urban Outfitters), chocolate coins, Hot Cocoa hand lotion (from ULTA, it smells amazing), oodles of makeup, a Hello Kittie Vinyl Toy, Chibi Robo Park Patrol! (cutest game ever), Kirby Squeak Squad, a penguin necklace, and penguin holiday socks (hehe). My favorite presents all came from Mikey, who worked really hard and made all but one of my presents. One of them is a picture he took, printed, and colored of me, and another is a whole plate of truffles that he made all by himself…they’re so yummy! My favorite present of all is the stuffed animal that he made for me. He’s a dinosaur with a monkey on his back, and I named them Henry and Harold. Aren’t they completely adorable?

So, yea, that’s pretty much it. I’m still dodging online school deadlines, working my butt off, neglecting Little-Penguin way too much, playing cute video games, and taking pictures with my crappy camera .

What was your favorite present from this holiday season, and do you have any exciting plans for the New Year?

(Oh, and that pink giraffe cookie up there was made my Mikey, not me .)

I went to an amazing concert last night. The Mathematicians opened for Rasputina, and the entire show was sa-weet.

I’d never heard of the Mathematicians before, but I saw them walking around the club in their sweater-vests, flood pants, and science goggles and knew that they were either going to be extremely lame or super awesome. They were super awesome. All of their songs had some sort of math theme, singing about LCDs (least common denominators for those who slept through math) and square roots to really catchy tunes…all while trippy videos played behind them. They put on a great show; the drummer was pretty much jumping around the whole time, the bassist/lead singer got right in our faces and ran out into the crowd, and the keyboardist had four keyboards, and at least two of them were being used as synthesizers. I don’t know much about what he was doing on them, but it came together with everything and sounded awesome.

Honestly, if I had left right after hearing the Mathematicians I would have been happy. I wasn’t expecting much out of Rasputina, I mean, whenever they start playing on my computer I skip over them or get really depressed from listening to them. Last night completely changed my view of them.

Jonathan (the drummer) was the first to come on stage. He set up most of the equipment before Melora (the lead singer and cellist) and Sarah (backup vocals and cellist) crept on stage decked out in their Victorian-peasant-like costumes. They waved to the crowd, sat down with their cellos, and Melora started talking. At some point she asked, “have we been here before?” and someone in the crowed shouted back, “yea, with Marilyn Manson.” Melora smiled and said, “I have a selective memory.” The entire crowd cracked up, and there were quite a few other times in between songs where Melora would make a funny comment or two.

Anyway, back to the music. It was amazing. I never thought that they could sound so good. The cellos sounded beautiful, Melora’s voice was powerful and haunting, and there I was feeling like a jerk because I thought it was going to sound like a bunch of dying cats. Rasputina really was amazing live, and I really suggest that if they come to a town near you and you have the slightest interest in “cello rock”, dark cabaret, or just alternative rock music in general that you check them out.

Oh, and in addition to getting to see two great bands play, I got to see them play within an arms length of me. The venue that they played at last night was was nice and small and cozy…I’ve never been so close to the musicians in a concert before!

Have you ever been to a concert and been surprised at how good/bad a band sounded live? Now I have, that’s for sure !

Check out each band’s Myspace page by clicking on their images above. They’re so different from each other, you’re bound to like one of them.

Hello there everyone. Just a short introduction before I get started on writing my first entry on Little-Penguin.com. I’m Michael. I’m going to be writing blogs here about many things to do with entertainment that I love or loathe depending on which emotion I need to express and tell you kiddies about at different times. Should be a fun adventure . So let’s get started. Shall we?

Anyone who knows books knows that they can cause as much controversy if mot more than movies or television. One reason being they have no ratings or limits for that matter on how explicit they can go and how deep into the facets of the darkest parts of the human mind they dig. The only restrictions are how far the writer’s mind (and publishing company) are willing to dive. Chuck Palahniuk is willing to delve deep to where many people are scared to visit.

Using black humor and shocking imagery with bits of Kurt Vonnegut influence, his books investigate things that are, though sometimes unbelievable, are part of the human experience. The vast, scary, intimidating humanity. Spooky huh? One of his books, Haunted, investigates our need for TV to fill a void that is empty in our lives and how it distorts our view of reality until one can’t tell the difference. If thats not enough, it’s filled with stories from the funny (An opposite art thief who breaks into galleries to hang his art smong famous paintings) to the downright disturbing (a man who lost his intestines in an incident involving pleasure and a pool cleaner.) 73+ people have fainted during readings of that last one.

Disgusted?

Try Choke. A book about a sex addict who cruises his meetings for women to hook up with in his spare time while focusing most of his time choking in expensive restaurants, having people save him, and leeching off their generous gifts to pay for his mother who is dying in a nursing home. Morality conflictions anyone? What would Jesus not do?

Disturbed?

Maybe you should be. Maybe that’s exactly what Palahniuk wants. Maybe he wants you trying to bash images out of your skull that he has embedded. Or maybe he wants you to investigate the deeper, more disturbing parts of your own brain and use his stories as a doorway.

Your call.

Any opinions on Mr. Palahniuk?

Recommended choices : Invisible Monsters, Choke, Haunted, Lullaby

http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/

The season finale of America’s Most Smartest Model is approaching, so who’s gonna win the $100,000 cash prize, spot in a V05 ad, and title of “America’s Most Smartest Model”?

There’s Angela, who is regarded as the “most improved” in the competition. Nobody doubts her intelligence or her capabilities as a model. She’s cool and completely sane, but I can’t say the same for her competition…

There’s Andre, “The Soviet”. He’s pretty intelligent, very ripped, and a little crazy…I mean, besides the whole “Soviet Power” thing, he went on a rant in one of the earlier episodes about how “models are gods”. I wish I could find a video of it, but I guess people were so scared-stiff after watching that outburst that they hid in their basements hoping that Andre wouldn’t burst out of the TV screen and get them.

And then there’s VJ. He hasn’t really modeled, and he’s won three edge challenges just like the other two finalists. He reminds me of a Ken Barbie doll, and if they ever make a talking Ken doll they need to change his name to VJ. Okay, so that’s a bit harsh, but if you check out the message boards over at VH1, it’s pretty much the consensus that VJ is a jerk.

I think Angela is going to win. The two guys are way too over confident. Andre’s confidence is border-line crazy, but VJ’s cockiness is just plain annoying. Then again, Angela seems really calm and focused, unlike the guys, and we all know that VH1’s idea of good TV is two people screaming at each other and threatening to rip the other person’s head off. Anyway, that’s my prediction.

Who do you think is going to win?