There are only so many things one can be pumped about!

In the order that is in my head:

1. I am manning the same room AMANDA FUCKING PALMER will be in on the 31st of october

2. Today I witnessed the meeting of Lat, Mark Waid and Sonny Liew = Graphic Novel EXPLOSION.

3. There was a talk about the chinese literary scene in singapore, and they talked about the spectrum of human experience, and how children learning chinese should read widely and open their minds... it was amazing. I didn't know chinese writers were so awe-inspiring! Not having the opportunity to experience hardship/ separation/ 离开家乡 is not an excuse for singaporean writers to write badly. I have to read chinese books now.

4. The chartjackers song was in my head for most of yesterday. YAY to the power of the interwebs!!

5. Lea Michele singing "Defying Gravity"? Ok, honestly, WHERE ELSE will you hear that other than on Glee? They should put blake bashoff, jonathan groff or john gallagher jr. on the show next.

6. Today I met this other fangirl! Who's going for the Neil Gaiman event too!! ~exciting.

All this pumping makes me tired. Have to be up and perky tomorrow, and attempt to fit in a run between now and then D: (Because I'm going to australia for a outdoor expedition thing, i.e. climbing huge rocks.)

Ahh

I just found out through fb that two of my trinity summer school mates went to BU SUMMER. (cries) It was the one I wanted to go to but always couldn't because it's after the school holidays and I didn't want to miss school, and it was too far and the tickets too expensive etc. And my parents were worried about me travelling alone but it's not like I haven't been to a foreign country before.

(whines somemore) Pooky- it's jahnavi and avanthika-- do you remember? Go check your fb. Because I'm graduating next year so I really want to take advantage of the time left.

Ok if you don't know what BU summer is, it's here. And it's the one I whined about earlier this year and getting to see SPRING AWAKENING. I also whined about this 2 years ago, on this blog. It is clear that I am an expert at whining.

[/endwhine]

hello darlings!

Erk it's been so long since I last blogged properly that I don't know where to start.
Um.

I finished my exams today, and when I went out for lunch, I realised that I hadn't been out to eat in... 1 1/2- 2 months. So it was quite strange, walking around in a mall and planning things. It just feels so odd, having nothing pressing to do.

Before my exams I had a whole list of things I promised myself I would do, but now I don't really feel like doing anything. When I went to school for exams, socialisation was practically nil.

In my head is just: "Oh crud oh crud today's the day what if I fail what if I can't answer anything I should have looked through my work again oh crud I don't want to be in acad support again I didn't sleep much last night and I'm all jumpy now and all raw nerves dammit if I talk to somebody now I have to worry about conversation I hope I brought everything"

Worst thing is, I don't think the work I've done will pay off, because there were questions esp for chem and math that I could do, BUT I FREAKING FORGOT TO LOOK OVER THOSE TOPICS AGAIN, so I had problems with questions that I should have been able to do. It's so frustrating, to know that argh you could have done better. Admittedly I was losing focus a week before promos started, because there is so freaking much to revise, especially for bio. So it's very easy to just give up/ in and detach.

Enough ranting; a happy video.

The Kills make me want to put on eyeliner, wear black heels and cuffs.

billilovesmargot recommended it as "james bond" music, and it's because... they make you feel like you're in a james bond movie. You know, supercool attitude, glamorous dresses, fast cars.

That's all for this week! I'm off to do some ~mail quickly and then back to studying. Really really have to pass my H2s, but unfortunately for chemistry mugging plotted against marks is an exponential graph.

(i.e. the amount of studying is not equivalent to the marks you're going to get; you have to study a lot to get *some* marks... ok the graph says it a lot better than I do. Put "amount of studying" on the x-axis and "marks obtained" on the y-axis. Ruth told me this, and she is a math genius.)

Glee quote:

"Well for a while there you were kind of all over me and now you just yell at me all the time."

link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blauRjmkISQ&feature=channel
scene starts at 0:44 thereabouts.

Not... the most insightful of quotes. But, it summed things up.

OKAY. Back to binomial/poisson/ normal.

for reference: this article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6839056.ece makes me wimper, laugh and sigh disjointedly ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

impressive!

Hello peeps!

Listening to Pomplamoose. They're having a gig with Danielle Ate the Sandwich, and this is AWESOME because they're both really accomplished musicians, and to put them together would be crazycakes. They pay attention to the lyrics, and you can tell they're writers/ read a lot etc.

It also helps that Danielle is my favorite on the tubes xD Listen to Born in the Wrong Body; the imagery and its ability to invoke your feelings is amazing.

updates?

Am filming my new video in sections because my camera's running out of memory. Actually it's because I tried to do a reenactment _and_ a lipsynch in one take and that took up most of the memory. Filmed 10s worth of video today. I should clear my memory card!

It's also because I don't have time to edit >.> because editing takes 1-2hrs in wee hours of the morning... and lately that time has been taken up by revision/ PROJECT WORK. PW is a whole other can of worms. And I think I need to pass my promos. 1 and a half more weeks and I am done.

In an attempt to put myself in a revision mood (I've been procrastinating too much lately. A few days ago I lost steam, and well... got lost in the flood of work to do, and didn't know where to start. Grumble. lost motivation. D: ) I'll dissect my progress, mostly for my own benefit, and to sort things out. This will bore you.

Math:
p&c, probability (done)
binomial poisson normal, hypothesis, correlation/regression (not done)
graphing, apgp, inequalities (done)
functions, summation (not done)

Chem:
atomic structure, chem bonding, energetics, chem eqm (done)
stoichiometry, gases, reaction kinetics (not really done)
periodicity, ionic equilibrium (not done)

Bio:
respiration, photosynthesis, viruses, dna&genomics (done)

bacteria, prokaryotes/eukaryotes, meiosis/mitosis, enzymes (half done)

carbs/lipds/proteins, cell structure, cell membrane (not done)

Lit:
horribly, horribly behind, have got to prepare questions/ remember quotes, summaries

GP:
The essay is ok, AQ is not(!) and it's very annoying. Otherwise paper 2 is fine. I think.

GLEE.

This is going to be a short one.

Have you watched the new episode of glee? I don't know--the pilot seemed so much better, right? ok maybe I'm influenced by Kayley, who didn't really like it.

The writing's surprisingly sharp, though, and funny, but it seems like the singing and humor exist for the sake of themselves? There's not much in terms of plot, and efforts to add depth to the show are very Fail, for lack of a better word. For example, they try to bring in issues like eating disorders, but it doesn't really come through because of the humor. The humor just shoots them in the foot when the writers are trying to make an argument. I mean if you want to make a joke don't try to make it serious? There are plays/ tv shows that manage issues and humor fairly well, but it's hard to balance both aspects-- just do it well or not do it at all.

And the voiceovers! Don't they remind you of Scrubs? I suppose one cannot expect too much from a public-access tv show.

When Lea Michele's character talks about the sex thing, I completely agree with the misconception and "Girls want sex just as much as guys do.", but ahh the way she brings it up is so cringey.

"Our hormones are driving us too crazy to abstain." It's so insulting, and fallacious. I mean it's not like all of us are having sex left right and center, are we?

okok I'm nitpicking now, and being cynical. The music's good, and I'll leave it at that.

Struggle.

I don't know if this is a chinese thing, but when I first saw this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnnJnIj3T90 (or lianeandthemusic's recent video) I was just thinking:

duh, life is a struggle. You're meant to struggle-- if you don't struggle what you're working hard for is not worth it. Stop wallowing and get on with it. Stop complaining.

And I don't know-- what you're taught doesn't really translate into action, I suppose. Because sometimes I feel like this too and I used to get really hung up about feeling sad and despondent, and start to wonder what I'm struggling for.

Then your parents/ teachers will tell you to stop bawling for god's sake, look at jenny--does she cry her eyes out? How are you going to compete in the future if you continue like this? Jenny's all decided about what she wants to do in life, are you? Why don't you have any ambition? Everyone else has a goal, why don't you? I'm so disappointed in you; we have spent so much time and effort into teaching you and these are the results you give me? Why didn't you try harder? If you didn't spend so much time with your friends and more time studying, you would have done better. Why did you do this? You have not only disappointed me, you have disappointed your family, school, classmates-- you are such a disgrace!

Basically the thing is to guilt-trip you until you pull up your socks.

I don't think I want to take a stand on this; I'm pretty undecided regarding educational methods and cultural differences, but I wanted to find out if the difference in opinions was significant? heh because my relatives look down on people from the states or to simplify it, angmohs (红毛鬼, a label that encompasses all caucasians), and are like: "See? Us chinese work harder, and can 吃苦 (overcome suffering). Over there they wait for the government to help them, here the government doesn't help us! See- all the smart kids are chinese or indian."

Ok bringing in Social Welfare is a whole other can of worms, but the point is that sometimes people here(?) tend to make generalisations about angmohs and in some cases they are convinced that their generalisations are correct. Take the recession, for example. Some people think that the recession happened because Americans are stupid and don't know how to be thrifty when they take loans for a house or a car that is priced way beyond their means. So this led to the sub-prime crisis.

On the other end of the spectrum, it is kind of part of the culture here to be careful with your money; people would rather stay in a flat that they can own rather than in a landed property they have to take a loan for. It's also admirable to "have a million" in your bank account and dress like someone poorer, and old people commonly turn their lights off in the day to save on electricity bills. There is a sterotype that chinese tend to be calculative, but this is not without basis when you think about confucian teachings. Almost the whole chinese culture (at least, what we get in schools) is based on the idea that hard work = success. From this stems the idea that if you don't get the prize first, other people will, and the obstacles in your life are punishment for your wrongdoings. (please, please correct me if I'm wrong)

just watched history boys, and its is *swoons* lovely.

The writing! Is just incredible, and really sharp and witty. There's the screenplay of it somewhere (it exists on amazon) so I'll go look for it.

The big themes are education and coming of age, but what really stood out for me was love. If one really wanted to do this systematically, there's lust between dakins/fiona, yearning in posner/dakins and tension~ in irwin/dakins. See? All the romantic relationships practically revolve around dakins, and rightfully so-- he is smouldering.

Irwin is this temp. teacher, by the way, who comes to tutor the boys on how to write clever essays for the oxbridge admissions exams.

The writing was so amazing that I had to stop and rewind some parts, especially towards the end with irwin/dakins, and irwin is so... shy and blushy and bowled over. (I almost typed "blowed over". Anyway.) And dakins is like: "you know you want me". But I can't believe irwin is such a wuss like that! He's practically melting when dakins promises him a date.

Though. At some points it's hard to see beyond the comedy and into the serious stuff. Or rather at some points these are hard to differentiate. Especially with dakin, you don't really know whether he's taking anything seriously. You don't even know where is alliances lie.

Obviously in these things the characters do not have a definite sense of morality, so I don't know why this new york times review said that

"This is a work in which the most likable and, by the play's standards, most moral figure is an obese English teacher who regularly swats his students in class and fiddles (to use the euphemism of choice) with the more attractive of them after school."

I mean morality in these things is not even a question. The history boys isn't meant to be moralistic; it's meant to show things the way they are/ were and explore the relationship between a teacher and his students. For those who haven't seen it, hector (the "obese English teacher") and his groping isn't taken seriously. There are certain doubts, like "how will I deal with it if he feels me up?" But mostly the boys think it's all a joke, a slight inclination the English Teacher happens to have; they respect him for his opinions and teachings all the same.

Granted, the NYT was reviewing the stage play, and I've only watched the movie.

But the love! (posner has for dakin) Is so endearing and sweet and... *swoons again*.

[SCRIPPS has just seen POSNER swooning over dakin]

SCRIPPS: Love can be very irritating.
POSNER: How do you know?
SCRIPPS: It's what I always think about God; he must get so pissed off, everybody adoring him all the time.
POSNER: Yes. Only you don't catch God poncing about in his underpants.

[Cut to this scene of POSNER singing]

And then there's this scene between posner and hector after that, and they talk about literature:

HECTOR: Lost boy though he is, on the far side of the world, he still has a name.
(On Hardy) A saddish life, though not unappreciated. "Uncoffined" is a typical Hardy usage. It's a compound adjective, formed by putting "un" in front of a noun. Or verb, of course. Unkissed, unrejoicing, unconfessed, unembraced. It's a turn of phrase that brings with it a sense of not sharing. Of being out of it, whether because of diffidence or shyness. But a holding back. Not being in the swim. Can you see that?

POSNER: Yes, sir. I felt that a bit.

HECTOR: The best moments in reading are when you come across something -- a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things-- that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else. A person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And... it's as if a hand has come out and taken yours.

The first part, the "un" bit, you can't help but feel sorry for posner and hector alike, who both have something/ someone they really want but who won't reciprocate their affections (in posner's case) or something they can't have. (being openly gay, in hector's case. He is married.)
And I don't have to mention that the reading quote has its own inherent value.

I would love to see the History Boys performed live, only there aren't any tours in my area. Will see. If you want to watch it, I watched it off youku. It's also nc16 for all those legal people who want to buy/ borrow it ^^

EDIT: I want to buy the soundtrack! The 80s songs they use as background are great, as is samuel barnett's Bewitched and Bye Bye Blackbird.

YAY! the proper layout is back! ^^ hip, hip HOORAY.

This song by pomplamoose is appropriate for the situation.

Dinner for two lost its taste
When I embraced
All of your leftover bait
And I wish we had never gone stale
But who could tell
Your expiration date
Oh Id like to get over
Id like to get over you

School is helping. Loads. Massively.

Chemistry practical tomorrow, which is 7.5% of our ALevel grade, and I am nervous. I always get the titration wrong and forget the concentration calculations and the questions kind of build up on each other, so if you get the first one wrong, you'll get the rest wrong. They've given us lots of practice, so I've been going over them and redoing them. Hopefully I don't mess up tomorrow.

And then EOM and lit homework which I never do and chem tutorials and my stupid philo essay, which class I can't go to anymore. *grumble* I mean for the past 5 years I've been giving things up for the sake of school and I hate not being able to do the things I like. And once I give up something, I'm not allowed to take it back, in case my grades drop again. Mostly the school makes me give things up. And mostly it is my fault.

Ok it is entirely my fault that I've had to give things up. Admittedly I used to not mind giving up violin and my time, because I didn't want to be bogged down by things, but now I would really like not to have remedial and have my time back. And now I've given almost everything up and what's left is the minimum to get my butt through school, but it's still not working.

Although. The upside is that the emphasis on schoolwork and busybusy days make you think about your priorities, so you keep what is important to you and let go of what is not. Everything superfluous is abandoned, and your time and energy is concentrated on activities that matter, so that's a good thing.

I'm hungry.
and off-kilter.
When have I not been off-kilter?

Arghh I don't want to have to worry about.

I don't know what to say, except that everything that has been going on lately has been rather personal.

Hmm. Since amanda palmer (http://twitter.com/amandapalmer) is talking about hitting the rag, I'll talk about that too! I don't have bad cramps ^^ And I'm not on the rag at the moment. Some people chart their cycles on a calendar, but I don't, partly because mine tends to be really irregular. I am fascinated by people who can go: "okay, Aunt Flo is going to visit this week; I'd better stock up on aspirin." The crimon wave shouldn't be something to complain about, especially when you eat less!

On a more (or less?) serious note, I notice that in a coed school, people don't complain about their cramps as much. In my old school, we used to use it as an excuse for anything! Especially PE. I hate the pads they sell in the school shop for people who aren't expecting it. They're the cheapest kind, which means they're lumpy and rough. I like tampons!Have you noticed the ones they sell in condom-like packaging? That's funny.

The euphemisms are so cute:
My cup of joy is overflowing
Nosebleed in Australia
Playing banjo in Sgt. Zygote's Ragtime Band (beatles reference!)
Panty shields up, Captain! (port or starboard?)
Scarlet letter, The (literary reference!)
Vampire's bag lunch (Though hopefully not edward's. Has anyone thought of what Edward does when Bella is on the rag?)

fug it why is blogger falling to pieces? yesterday I couldn't link, and today I can't see the layout properly. 2.30am.

sorry. This whole time I've been thinking about going away but the thing is. If university/ what comes next doesn't turn out to be what I've hoped it would be, what would I do? Because sometimes I kind of think that university would be the be all and end all, the solution to all the problems, the end to this blinking hell hole, but what if it isn't really all these things?

What if my teachers/ lecturers end up being people who can't teach? What if I won't get to learn all the things I want to? What if secretly university and the classes and the syllabus are just like A levels, only worse? fugfugfug I mean I never thought these things could happen until I went to the school I'm going to now.

Though honestly it is not wise to put university on a pedestal and say that it is made up of good glorious things, when actually it might, in equal parts, might

ok this will be a quick one:

from amanda palmer: "i’m also trying to book a singapore gig (i’ll be there with neil) in october."
ARE YOU SERIOUS and

from neil gaiman: "World Fantasy Con is Hallowe'en Weekend (in San Jose website is http://www.worldfantasy2009.org/). I won't be there as I'm going to be in Singapore for the literary festival. But I will miss it."

oh my goodness they never come to this part of the world...

And even if amanda palmer can't book a show, she can still do a ninja twitter thing and I will pay!

I double-checked and the literary festival in question is the Singapore Writer's Festival. OMG I can volunteer and things they have openings-- but it's for schools only/ organisations. If only I can find a group of people... WG? Anyone from WG covering this? Can I have in on this??

It would be like volunteering at a CON, because they have programming and panels and things... and it is after promos (year end exams) but before PW (this project we have to do)so I will be free for this!! Kind of. But it is a chance not to be missed ahh.

Looked up the guest list but neil gaiman isn't on it. What if he just put it as a typo or a joke or something and he isn't really coming? *dithers* should I email to ask for specifics?

D: twitter was down yesterday and I couldn't check jbdazen's tweets. *sigh*
On the bright side, fiona has found my blog! *waves* after the whole ___room fuss. haha.

Haven't been posting for two weeks or so. What has transpired in my absence? hmm http://redbicycletea.blogspot.com has updated. So has tumbleweedrabbits. We're starting from scratch! It's relieving because all my icky pictures used to be on there and now they are not. phoung-nghi takes better pictures than I do. So does michele.

I keep watching jbdazen's The Geeks Are Out video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ae8mCVje0M) and I keep seeing myself... and the quality of the video pales in comparison to the other participants. I mean it's only a couple seconds (thank god for that) but argh seeing yourself in widescreen amongst other better youtubers is a bit discouraging. It's because I'm thin-skinned. I could have put in more effort, though, because when I filmed the video I was in a rush to go to school because I stupidly slept the night before. darn.

Happy thing! Washed the shoes I got from youswop and they fit like a glove! Because they were a bit big before and they shrank while washing, I guess. Got them for $12 in youswop money, which I swopped 1 sudoku player for. Yay for not spending real money. Though sometimes the youswop thing doesn't work because I really want shoes, but the shoes there are ugly/ don't fit me. And I can't buy any more clothes, because my closet is filled to the brim. I mean really. I can't fit my new clothes in. A wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear.

I don't think it's because I'm buying too many clothes, though. The last time I went shopping was two months ago (at the fleaflyflofun thing) and I only got a skirt. It's just that I have things that my parents/ relatives have gotten for me, but I hate them and never wear them. But it's not polite if you throw it away, because then they'll be like: "Where's the shirt I got you? Why aren't you wearing it?" And I still have things that don't fit me, that I used to wear when I was 10/ 11 years old. When you think about it, I'll be turning 17 next wednesday-- that means I've kept the clothes for far too long!

Don't think I should be shopping from now till exams though. I don't know. Sometimes when I haven't been going out, I really really feel that I need to get out of the school-home-tuition loop and do something or my brain will get fried.

Pfft won't get my camera back till tuesday so I can't catch up on video-uploading during the long weekend D: sigh. Yesterday during national day festivities, this ensued:

CHELE: *holding video camera, filming* Could you help me film?
ME: Sure! (jumps and grabs camera from her hands)
CHELE: (goes away)
PA SYSTEM: Could everybody sit down?
ME: oh crap oh crap (messes up footage)
CHELE: (returns) I'll take it from here
~another group comes on~
ME: Can I film this? I'm really good at keeping the camera still, I'm really good with video cameras... (really, I have only used video cameras twice in my life)
CHELE: But it's not mine-- I don't think you should be playing with it. If we can delete the footage it'll be ok.
ME: Okay, hand it over. I'll figure it out. (presses too many buttons and has no idea how to do this)
CHELE: It's not yours, woman, don't spoil it.
ME: But it's so shiny! Don't you realise how much memory this has? The quality of video? The battery life? (rambles and still can't figure it out)
OWNER OF CAMERA: (I do not know this person at all) Could I have my camera back?
ME: (Grudgingly returns camera with a sad look)
CHELE: (kicks me)

I deserved to be kicked. But! video cameras are so shiny...

Quote from AFP: (heh amanda palmer, not agency france-presse)

"Being alone is hugely important. I've often thought that if I'd had the internet as a teenager, I may never have become a good songwriter. I think would have been too addicted to all of the wonderful possibilities online - I was a very connection-hungry kid. But that time to INCUBATE as an artist, to really spend a lot of time alone and improvising and being bored and finding ways to fill up space, that's what made me blossom creatively. It took SPACE. I'll be really interested to see what happens with the next generation. The ones who are more tempted to play guitar hero than play guitar. But once again, I don't think there's a "better" or "worse"....I think it might just be a breeding ground for a new type of artist."

from http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/07/interview-amanda-palmer.html hypebot.com, in an email interview.

As good an argument as any to get my butt off the computer and start writing/ reading critically... and pass my Alevels.

Alas, I am wraught with a terrible inertia. (excuses.)
And a bad "I have to finish this, so I'll pull an all-nighter" work ethic.
Have been sleeping 2-3 hours a night for the past three days, and running on $1 coffee. That might explain the jumpiness and extreme emotions.

Hello readers. I suppose now you're going to get a blow-by-blow account of my reactions to what is happening RE: hbp and my video on BestWishesFromNL.

I subbed for Jonneke yesterday on the channel, and it took a freaking NINE HOURS to upload and a lot of agonising but it's up and I'm so ~happy! Have to find synonyms for happy; I'm using it too much. Right. I feel lucky! delighted! joyful! ecstatic! glad! no not just glad but very very satisfied and um Ah Ha. I am THRILLED.

There's only 1 tiny problem: I can't bring myself to watch it. I mean after I've edited the video it's hard to watch myself once it's uploaded because it's so mortifying. The thought that other people have actually watched you... do stuff is so scary. [lack of vocabulary much?] Okay in short: I am embarrassed of myself.

And I find myself questioning, over and over and over again:
Was I in the right mind while doing this?
Do I need Prozac?
What the heck was I thinking?!
aaand ohmygoodness I can't believe people are actually watching this.

Am going to squee on the blog mostly, I think, because people in real life would go: "What's a nerdfighter?" And think I am crazy for screaming, happy-dancing and mock-fainting. Because that's what I was doing (embarrassingly) when I was watching HBP.

Speaking of HBP, *spoiler alert* did anyone catch the reference to the Parselmouths when Hermione is at dinner with Slughorn, and she's like: "My parents are dentists, that means they fix teeth." ?
From "What Kind of Name is Hermione?" :
Have you heard that her parents are dentists? (Dentists?)
That means they pick around in dirty muggles' teeth. (Ew!)

Okay on hindsight it may not be a reference, but if you actually watched the movie, slughorn's like: "Your parents are muggles?" And the whole table turns and stares at her.

And during the felix felicis part I just kept on thinking about the Harry and the Potters song!
There's a part where someone mentions "Slug Club", and I squealed aloud -_-' because then I thought of Scarhead and HatP.

After the movie Nat and I were chatting:

NAT: Did you see Snape? He was like: *scowls*
ME: More like *smoulders*. Did you see the part where he pushes draco up against the wall?

I was talking about all the smutty snape bits, and Nat (who is not the slashy type) had to shush me and go "That is not the focus! The point is his acting skills!"

I was a little disturbed by the part where Ginny goes to Harry: "Oh, shoelace." *bends down to tie it*
And then she rises, trying to keep as much eye contact with Harry as possible. It's so suggestive! No you have to go watch it's so funny.

After that it's "Merry Christmas, Harry." Loved the way Bonnie Wright delivered the line, packed with meaning and sadness and all. But... isn't this supposed to happen in DH? The part where Harry is leaving the Burrow and then Ginny invites him into her room and goes: "Here's your birthday present. *Snogs*"

Would jump at the chance to see it again, since geeru and michele haven't watched it yet. Will bring a notebook and write down all the references and nifty things I want to talk about.

[/edit] Amidst all the hype, I forgot to mention the ginny/harry kiss! For the record, it was so much better than the harry/cho one: quality trumps quantity. Just because cho got more action doesn't mean the scene was *good*-- there was no subtlety in the cho kiss, just a lot of "wow harry's first girlfriend wow better take your time!" The way ginny and harry kissed was more adult but they were more comfortable around each other, so you KNOW ginny's in it for the long run. Cho's kiss felt more like Harry liked the novelty of having a girlfriend-- very lavender brown, actually.

And! I absolutely adored Helena Bonham-Carter in this one-- she made bellatrix seem less like a bitch and more like a crazy person I'd make friends with. But she's not so much scary as schitzo, which might undermine her power/ meaness/ malice as a character.

--Reading Hayley's and Kristina's blogs, and Kayley's and alwayspureblood's videos, hence the intermittent commenting--

Think nat and I like the scriptwriter [Steve Kloves] this time because the lines were actually _good_ and packed with meaning. I mean within the constraints of a movie there's only so much you can say, but every line had a purpose. [comedic humour doesn't really count] Like you have to listen really carefully because the lines convey as much as they're supposed to, and more. It was also lovely that the first few bits of the movie were quoted word for word from the book, I kid you not.

Though. I sorely missed the King's Cross part; it was the scene I was looking forward to the most. Provides closure and everything. The underground scene at the beginning is a good effort to allude to King's Cross, though. OH I know why they couldn't do King's Cross-- they've renovated the station a lot, so it wouldn't look the same as Philosopher's Stone.

AHHHH

OH MY GOODNESS

OH

I THINK I'M GOING TO FAINT.

I come back from HBP, and there are a TON omg omg omg of new subscribers omgomg omg omgomg I haven't even read them yet.

There are 11 new emails in my gmail inbox, 7 of them are youtube-related, and I HAVE 5 NEW SUBSCRIBERS.

I mean on a good day I only get 1 or 2 youtube messages and they're mostly advertisements, or "come watch this!" and today ahh OMG I totally didn't expect such a reaction. !!! *so insanely excited*

OH MY GOODNESS this means I have viewers! Who actually watch!

I've never had viewers or readers before.

if you'll notice, the blogposts lately seem to be CAPS CAPS CAPS and are usually either intensely angry/ annoyed, or intensely excited, but I tend only to blog about exciting things. And this blog is mainly for ranting, and an outlet for fangirling. Will try to moderate my emotions somewhat.

Even though people who know me in real life think I'm dull, mild and boring. Psychoanalyse my blog! :D :D :D

The other day I was having an English lesson, and we were reading an essay about new media vs traditional media. The writer talks about the evolution of media in the introduction, and the following conversation ensues:

STUDENT: What is movable type?
TEACHER: Um, I don't know. Portable type, I guess?

Issue #1: !!! wtf The essay was talking about movable type in the 16TH CENTURY yeah there were PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS in the 16th century, right? I mean the sentence even mentioned "printing press"-- isn't that an anvil-sized hint that maybe portable typewriters wasn't what the author was referring to?

From wiki: "Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation)."

MAYBE my classmate was just trying to kid the teacher. But still! Argh how can you be so ignorant. This is the reason why I so badly want/ need to be somewhere else.

Issue #2: I was too hesitant/ too stupid/ lacking guts to correct the teacher and say something to the contrary. Out of my class of 22, no one else bothered to correct her either. [but that is not the issue] The issue is that I should have more gumption to correct her. If people in the class genuinely didn't know what "movable type" meant, they would go home with the wrong impression, all because I was too lazy to say something. Really, I'm just a selfish, spiteful idiot.

I haven't posted in ages! To a certain extent I think twitter takes the place of this. For those of you not following me on twitter, I have NEWS.

I've won a book!!!! Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja, all thanks to Ink and Paper Specials' Sex in Teen Lit Month.

So there. In Yo Face.

(To detractors: yes a YA book isn't much, and a month dedicated to YA sometimes doesn't sound like very in-depth reading, but Sex and the way it is portrayed to teen readers is important. Partly because teen readers are so impressionable, and partly because adults/ readers in general want to make sure that young adults get the right information about sex: what it is and what it isn't.

And sometimes people have different ideas about what is "right information" for teens. Should there be graphic sex scenes? Should there be clear messages/ preaching in the book? What about abortion and safe sex?

Sex is also more than intercourse itself: in Sweet-Valley- High type novels, the "good girl" doesn't want it at all, but the "bad girl" does. Does that mean that girls shouldn't have the urge to have sex at all? Guys, also, do not just have One Thing and one thing only on their minds. )

Further Discussion! over at http://inkandpaperspecials.blogspot.com/

She only has 26 blog followers! So go follow. There are reviews of YA novels, interviews with YA authors, as well as discussions. (Jo, the reviewer, replies to most comments!) Ink and Paper Specials is also on twitter: http://twitter.com/jo_scrawls