Too many books...

Okay, there can ever really be too many books, but when I read for pleasure, I like to read one book at a time. Sometimes I read quickly and sometimes slowly. It depends on how I feel about the story and not the difficulty. I hate feeling like I have to rush through anything. But I seem to have bitten off more than I can chew and they're all a bit time sensitive. Currently, I'm trying to read:

Because I heard Hank Green review it ages ago and heard good things about it from a friend of mine. Patricia C. Wrede is also a fond and nostalgic memory from my childhood because of Dealing with Dragons. I've actually started this book and quite like it. You can't argue with the elegance of and Austen-esque style. At first the mentions of magic bugged me since they seem out of place, and I'm still not sure how I'll feel about it. A lot of the names: Elizabeth, Charlotte, Fitzwilliam, and Georgina (not exactly like Georgiana but remarkably close), are also stolen striaght from Pride and Prejudice which also threw me off a little at first. At first, I wasn't sure if they meant the same characters or not, though now I'm pretty certain they don't. But I'll withhold judgment on those things until I get a little farther. Anyway, given a choice, I'd probably just continue with this book but there are two others I really need to finish soon as well. Still, this one is also on hold for someone else, so it's due back the 18th.

I've been trying to read the fourth Percy Jackson for months and already got side-tracked by Nation and had to return this to the library (or have my kind sister do it since I was out of town) and check it out all over again. I was listening to the audio but one of the character's voices really annoyed me and she's already an annoying character so I decided to switch to text. I still have a sneaking suspicion it won't be my favorite Percy Jackson book, but I still want to find out what happens. It's due back to the library on the 24th and I also can't renew it.

This book is for the book club I signed up for. I like mystery, but I haven't read any straight mystery for a long time, and this isn't the kind of thing I'd usually choose on my own. Of course, I haven't really started it yet. I'll try to just think of it like a CSI episode. I hope to one day write some mystery stories, so it'll be good to study the genre. But you'll notice this is the only adult book on the list. I read a lot of adult fantasy and sci-fi, sure, but I often have trouble with adult books in other genres. I always feel like they take themselves too seriously. All the same, I have to finish this the soonest since the book club's on the 16th.

Wow

People amaze me sometimes. Not always in a good way.

Words in August

I wrote 3,704 words in August for my newest novel. It's fascinating, but the research slows me down a bit. I can research beforehand, but I'm not the type of person who really knows what I'm going to write before I sit down and do it. One little detail can mean a half hour of research. I suppose I could also just mark spots to research as I write but I hate leaving blanks.

So...

...I never put up pictures of my visit to Denison so here are some.



These are the awesome friends I went to visit and Denison's best residential house, though sadly stripped of its rightful title as the Honors House.



Nope, not a postcard. This is actually a picture of the campus.



The best English professor I ever had lies here.



Also, surprisingly not a postcard but an actual picture of the village of Granville



Yes, that is actually a bowl at the bottom so doggies can have water too.

Punishment # Who Can Remember?

So I decided to make apple pie this time. I have extra top and bottom pie crusts and a sinking sensation that with this track record, I may need them. Although, you're all still free to offer me alternative punishents. But if I do a food punishment, it's probably going to be a pie since I feed them to my sister. It'd be wasteful to make something she didn't want.

I didn't quite get the lattice crust woven right, but it got pretty quickly demolished when we cut it anyway.

Waaaay Too Much Time...

Rational Mind: Cherie, did you play Twilight Princess today?

Why yes I did.

Rational Mind: All day?

Um....

Rational Mind: Wait, do you have some sort of mental disorder where you can't leave a puzzle unsolved?

Omigosh, yes!

Rational Mind: But...didn't you already play this game before and solve every one of the puzzles already?

Um...yes.

Rational Mind: So shouldn't you, like, remember?

I'm forgetful okay!

Bloodhound: Book Review

Same as always, initial thoughts contain no spoilers or sneezing dogs.

In this sequel Beka is a first year Dog (city guard), but she is trying to strike out on her own and find her own partner instead of just being a third in the great team of Goodwin and Tunstall. Unfortunately for Beka (but much to the amusement of her friends) she has one bad partner after another until the last one finally dumps her. Partnerless again, Beka gets drawn into a project to ferret out a nefarious conterfieter before the entire city crumbles under inflation and riots. Her investigation leads her and her friend Goodwind to Port Cayne where the conterfieter has the local government under control.

I liked this book at least as much as the previous one which is the type of thing you want from a sequel. Pierce said she was concerned conterfieting wouldn't be exciting enough. Admittedly my summary probably doesn't do it justice. I promise there's just as much action and fighting as in the previous, one. After all, she's still dealing with criminals. And unlike our dear Rogue Rosto, these are the type of criminals that don't mind going down as long as they pull you down with them.

* * * * *

Okay, now for spoilers and Achoo.

I continued to enjoy the development of all the characters. I was disappointed that Beka didn't get to spend more time in Corus (with Rosto), but I still thought Port Cayne was interesting, particularly Sir Lionel of Trebond. Alanna always did say there was insanity in her family. You finally get to see that she wasn't joking. I also didn't mention it in the last review but Pounce is clearly the same cat as Faithful. I did think that Pounce's decision not to help Beka this time was a bit of a plot device, but at least she didn't kill him. I hate it when they kill characters for a plot device. Though I was sad about Slapper. He was both wonderful and revolting all at once but at least he went out epically. I also LOVED the ghosts in the pigeons arguing with each other. That was hilarious.

Achoo was a cute dog but I thought Pierce spent a bit too much talking about her training. Speaking of dogs, I knew Dale was going to be a cad from the get go which made it hard for me to enjoy the romance part. I did, however, like the fact that Rosto got jealous. Sadly it looks like he still has a bit of growing before he has a chance with Beka. But I think he's still ten times the man Dale will ever be. Rosto saved Beka, after all, and he filled her room with flowers while she was recovering. Dale didn't even visit right away when Beka could have died and then he only did it to break up with her! What an undigested whump. Still, I also liked that Pierce didn't make Dale an actual villain. He was just a lame guy. I appreciated that Beka still kept the jewelry Dale gave her. I related to that.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the third book in this series, Mastiff, said to be released 2010. Beka is a character who's easy to admire. I've never understood her fear of public speaking considering she can so easily kick the snot out of people. But I suppose those are two different things. I'll probably still think it's a good series if, like Keladry, she never gets together with anyone. But I'm still cheering for Rosto. Even if his name does sound a little like some kind of nut. Give me an R. Give me an O. Give me an S. T. O. Rooooosto!

Terrier: Book Review

I read this book ages ago and kept meaning to do a YouTube review but never quite got around to it. I still hope to do that but thought I should probably get my thoughts down in text before I forget them.

Okay, general synopsis first with no spoilers or police brutality. But no worries, spoilers and being knocked about a bit with a baton follows (for all of you who like that sort of thing...).

First of all I loved both the Beka Cooper books books. They're at least on par with the Trickster duology as my favorite Tamora Pierce books. Although, I suppose Beka's a lot more like Keladry than Aly.

Beka Cooper, the distant ancestress of our beloved George Cooper, is saved from a life in the streets by the provost when she impresses him with her criminal hunting skills at the ripe young age of eight. As a teen Beka enters training to become one of the provost's guards, known in her time as the Dogs. But to be a true Dog, she must first survive being a puppy....

Now for the spoilers...

I have a theory that some authors choose to go back in time in their series in order to reignite enthusiasm in the older books. Prequels are a way to get fresh blood excited with a shiny new book without making them go back and read the others first.

Quite, frankly, if this was Pierce's plan, I think it was brilliantly executed. I don't know enough about the sales of the book to comment on that, but I know if I hadn't already read the other books, I'd want to read them now. Plus, I really love the cover art.

Anyway, let's focus on the story. I was interested that the book was in diary form and admittedly a little skeptical because both the books are tomes. It's hard to imagine any diary being thick enough to this story, and as far as I can recall, Beka only every mentions getting a new diary at the end, so that shoots down the possibility of multiple ones.

But aside from that, there were no major inconsistencies, and when I read the diary I found the voice to be 100% believable. This is high praise from me because, while I've liked other books in diary form, I often find points in them where I feel there's more description than belongs in a real diary. As a writer I understand the temptation, but it usually takes me out of the story if I'm faced with long passages of dialog or too much detail. Beka, however, is writing her diary for the detail. She says it's a memory exercise for her police training, so I never really felt like anything she put in was too much since she presents herself as such a keen learner and observer from the beginning. Also, there are points in the diary where it reminds me forcibly that it is a diary. If Beka's tired, her writing gets sloppy and trails off, if she's a little drunk, her writing's a little drunk.

I also appreciated all of the characterization. Even if I didn't like a character, I found them all to be believable. Beka's sister, for example, got on my nerves, but I understood why they acted like they did. I just wanted to slap them every now and then and yell at them about all that Beka did. Still, I quite liked most the characters. My favorite character is Rosto, and it is my hope that he and Beka will end up together. I understand and entirely respect the reasons she blows him off now. But I'm hoping that he eventually grows up a little and proves himself worthy. Plus how cool would it be for the past Rogue to be related to the future one? Although, I'm not entirely sure how Beka is related to George or if she has children. At first I thought she was his great great many times grandmother, but rereading the prologue, it didn't actually say that. She's known as Beka Cooper which may mean she never married. Of course, one doesn't have to marry to have kids. Also, even if she married Rosto, I don't see her changing her name to Beka the Piper. So that's another thing that might be evidence that she does get with Rosto. Hooray!

Okay, okay, enough of my fangirly romance. There was a plot, which was also a mystery and I enjoyed that. I caght onto the mystery of the Shadow Snake's identity a bit ahead of time, but I was like Beka in that I didn't quite want to believe it. Also, when Beka's friend (pretty sure it was Verene) dies, it wasn't like a random ensign on Star Trek but also wasn't an important enough character to make me too upset. So I thought that struck a good balance. Beka's magic powers are a really good fit as well. I think they're more in holding with most Pierce characters who have very limited powers, but find ways to use them to their best advantage. It's kinda like "I hear pigeons...I mean dead people." Plus, I like pigeons.

Well, guess I remembered more than I thought. I was gonna do both books today but I think I'll review Bloodhound tomorrow.

Fail!

This is the second time in a five day period that I've forgotten to post in my blog! Not only does this mean I'll have to do a punishment (making my sister another pie), but I'm beginning to seriously worry about my memory. I'm also wondering how I ever managed to remember to go to work or class if I can't remember to do one measly blog post! What if my brian is slowly disentigrating? What if I have mad cow disease and my mind's turning to swiss cheese? Worse, what if I have rampant hypochondria?

Nation

I figure I should review this book before I forget about it. So I finished this book a few days ago. I was slow to get around to it even though I love Terry Pratchett because it wasn't Discworld and I had been told it was a little dark. Sometimes I don't mind dark, but I hadn't been in the mood for it. Still, I knew the darkest Pratchett would have humor and light, so I finally went for it.

I'm glad I did.

First I'll give a run through of the story and what I thought without spoilers. And then I'll do a spoilers version.

NO spoilers or tree-octopi

In a parallel world much like Earth, a terrible plague hits 19th century England, killing the king (along with 138 of his successors). While they race to crown the next king before any other country can lay claim to their throne, halfway across the world, a tsunami strikes a small island, known to the inhabitants as Nation. Only one boy is left alive on his once thriving island, and he must pick up the pieces of his destroyed world while fate ties these two seemingly unrelated disasters and shows how sometimes you can go so far from home that you come back again.

SPOILERS and tree-octopi

I won't lie, some of the darkness I had been trying to avoid in this book scratched open fresh wounds. But in the end I think it helped me a lot to think about life and loss. At the same time there were still parts that made me laugh or smile. My favorite humorous line was "It was like a Jane Austen novel with less clothes."

Despite the incredible circumstances of the story, I found the main characters to be very real and human. Mau, is just about to attend the ceremony to make him a man when the wave hits and everyone he has ever known or loved dies. I deeply admired his spirit as he pulled himself out of grief and fought many real and metaphorical (often both) battles with the god of death, Locaha. His cry of "Does not happen!" embodied his determination and strong will. At the same time, he is a boy who was never proclaimed a man and he's haunted (literally) by the voices of his granfathers. I might not have suffered nearly as much as Mau, but I could relate to his feelings of loss. And what recent graduate into this economy doesn't feel a bit lost at sea? Mau did all the things required of him to become a man, but when he returned home, there was no one to declare him one. A bit like having the degree but not yet achieving the profession.

I also understood Emintrude (Daphne) reinventing herself after she is shipwrecked on the island. For Mau she's a reason to stay alive, a pale-skinned "ghost girl." It's an irresistable romantic set-up (hence the above mentioned Austen reference), except that I knew Pratchett too well to have high hopes of anything coming of it. Still, Daphne is much more compelling as an individual character than a romantic interest. Plus they're both probably only about thirteen. So I respected Pratchett's decision even if I was a bit disappointed by it.

Oh, and there weren't nearly enough tree-octopi. You can't just have tree-octopi and not use them. One of them should have eaten at least one mutineer. Some cute little pet in the epilogue doesn't count. I want blood!

At the same time, aside from the failure of the romance (and lack of lethal tree-octopi action), the ending was entirely satisfying to me. The going far enough to come home again is a beautiful concept, but despite being home again, I feel I haven't yet done the journey to earn it. That image only made me feel that I have so much farther to go. Instead, what really spoke to me about the ending was that it essentially said the world can seem to end. But life still goes on.

Dream Journal #3

I dreamed that I took an airplane to France but on the way I was supposed to take care of this guy named Greg. But I got distracted by another man on the plane flirting with me (how well my subconscious knows me) and I lost track of Greg and we all thought he was kidnapped. I also lost my luggage. But I did get to see my French host mother in my dream and we spoke French. My sister was also with me and I asked her Greg's last name and she said it was Elizabeth.

If I were to interpret this dream, I'd say that Greg could be the anthropomorphic personification of a computer I gave the same name. And possibly I was speaking French since I sang in Chinese and I've always suspected my brain keeps all the foreign languages I learn in one place. I'd also love to go to France again with my sister and I miss my host mother who was an awesome lady. But the rest is a complete mystery to me.

Karaoke

Do I like punishment? I would seem so. Actually, I really do have that pathetic of a memory. But I also believe that variety is the spice of life. And I haven't done a YouTube video in quiet some time. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do Sarah's karaoke punishment. It's not less punishing than the pie. I just wanted to do something different. I've promised my sister that next time will be food again, but she's had enough pie for now.

I decided to sing Reflection from Mulan in Chinese so that there would at least be some educational merit to this endeavor. If nothing else, it'll teach anyone who does speak Chinese just how bad at it someone can be. For an actually good, professional, version of this song (incidentally sung by a girl with the same last name as me) click here.

To see me suffer, just click the video below:

Is the Pen Mightier?

Okay a funny (and awesome) t-shirt image to talk about a very serious question. I believe there are many instances in diplomacy and politics where the pen is more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction. This is because things written by a pen can cause us to use or not use said weapons. But that is NOT the issue I want to address.

As a fiction writer, I wish to address whether the power of fiction can be used for evil, and if it is, is that the writer's fault? Normally I would say no because I believe people are ultimately responsible for their own actions regardless of what they've read or heard. But my own novel deals with a case of deep psychological trauma. I believe that people who go through such trauma may not always be able to make sound personal decisions and could be more easily influenced by a work of fiction they might identify with. I won't give the exact example from my novel but I will give a different one. Neil Gaiman has previously said in interviews that he did not write a story about the dreams of an unborn fetus eventually perishing because he was afraid it might be used as a reason that a rape victim should not get an abortion which was not his intent.

However, as much as I love Neil Gaiman, I would have to disagree with this reasoning. I feel that even though some girls deciding whether or not to get an abortion might be traumatized, and undoubtedly Neil Gaiman has much higher stock with young girls than I'm likely to ever have, ultimately the girl will make the decision on how she feels. How she feels may be influenced by outside sources. But unless she's forced or corerced, which Gaiman would not be responsible for, how she feels about such a story would be dependent on whether the idea of the baby not having a future bothered her. I will NOT debate the rights and wrongs of abortion in this blog. If you want to talk to me about what I think concerning that, you're free to email. But I WILL say that I believe a girl could be traumatized by either decision because how an abortion affects someone will depend entirely on what they believe. I think if a story was enough to influence a girl in such a situation, then it's probably just influencing her towards the decision she was already inclined towards. Inevitably someone could say something similar or even worse to her with the actual intent of controlling her decision, but the decision is still hers to make. Far better to have considered all the pros and cons and know that she will be secure in her decision no matter what people say to her than trying to protect her from all the psychological ramifications of her decision.

All that being said, I understand Gaiman's decision entirely because of the fear of that one letter, the one that says "I did this because of your story, and it hurt me." It's the same letter I currenly fear due to the situation in my story. Once again, it's an entirely different situation in my novel, and in my defense, it was not my intent to imply the interpretation a few of my beta readers took from the passage in my novel. I would also argue that if one pays attention to the fantasy elements, the actual occurances aren't even possible. My story is written like it is purely for literary reasons and not as a psychological guide. But like the abortion example, my novel has possible real-life analogies. Both situations also beg the same question about whether or not fiction writers have power over their readers and if there are ways for them to abuse that power. I would really like to hear what you all think, and the few beta readers I have contacted can answer me by email more specifically.

Lastly, I don't want you all worrying that your opinion will make me compromise how I truly think I should act. It merely helps me to look at the situation in ways I may not have considered.

How to be a Horrible Older Sister

Lesson #1 - Consistently forget your brother's birthdays. Sigh... My lil' bro Dennis turned 8 on August 18th. I'll get him a present (most likely consisting of legos) when I see him next, and conversations with him usually consist of a lot of the answer "I don't know," but I still wish I had remembered to call him that day. Anyway, I thought about putting a picture of him up, but he generally hates having pictures of him. So here's a really short little lego movie he did.

One More Time...

It's hard to know when or if I'll be moving but this is the last planned vacation at least for the summer. I'll be visiting my friends Brian and Becky in Ohio from today to August 19th, so as always, no post punishments since I probably won't be posting everyday.

Dream Journal #2

NOT my artwork. Picture found here.

Last night I had another dream that illustrates the strangeness of my mind. I was in a gray and black cityscape on the tops of skyscrapers, and I would jump down from the rooftops and float down. I had these dresses that acted a bit like Mary Poppins' umbrella. But then the city filled with these severed heads and that meant I didn't feel comfortable jumping from the rooftops anymore.

Full Speed Ahead Scottie?

Actually, this is another computer from the Computer History Museum in Palo Alto. Yeah, yeah, I guess it wasn't so bad... Anyway, this cracked me up because it looks so much like a computer counsel from the original Star Trek except for the telephone. If there had been a telephone, though, you know it would have been Uhura's job to answer it.

Another Novel Written

This picture was found here.

I hesitate to say "finished" since I associate that with a completely polished work. But I wrote an ending to the first draft of my children's novel yesterday--at 77, 577 words and 127 word-processed pages.

I'm not really happy with the ending, but I can't currently think of a better one. I'm also going to give it some time before I consider changing it because there are often many things I'm not happy with immediately after I finish a book. This happens to many authors, as I understand, and led some of them to try to burn or destroy what is later hailed as their best work. So I'll wait until I can look at it a bit more objectively.

So, currently, I'll concentrate on editing my fantasy novel and writing my next book. Editing, as I've said before, is far less satisfying than writing. It always feels like this endless, bottomless maw. I can't give you editing updates because, while I do go chapter by chapter, I can't say I've finished editing a chapter just because I've read over it once. Though, I suppose I could start keeping track of how many times I do read over them.... Okay, so currently just finished editing Chapter 3 for the second full read-through of my novel after most my beta-reader comments.

And I think I'll probably start editing my children's novel after I finish editing my fantasy. So hopefully by January. But if any of you are really excited and want to sign up as beta-readers now, feel free to do so in the comments of by email. And no worries to the beta-readers who still haven't finished my fantasy novel. I won't expect you to read all my books just because you read one.

Official Bathroom Elephants?

Back again. This time I was staying with my relatives in Palo Alto and did a little sightseeing in San Francisco. While at my relative's house I noticed this picture which I'm beginning to wonder if it's following me as it was the same picture in the bathroom of the friends I just visited.

My sister dragged me...er...I mean suggested we go to the computer history museum in Palo Alto. I'm afraid I couldn't be as excited as her, but there were a couple things of interest to me. First a bit of library nerdiness through government documents, the first census machine.

Unfortunately it's only a reproduction since they no longer have the original but still kinda cool.

Then Chrissy was very kind to let me see the Lords of the Samurai exhibit at the Asian Art Museum even though she wanted to go to the Exploratorium and we didn't have time to do both. But I think we both saw some cool things and now we're ready to be Lords of the Samurai.

In case you're wondering, this is NOT a comfortable hat, cool as it looks.

Pie!

Yes, here is my second punishment pie (or rather pies). Significantly less cool than last time but oh well. I had too many ingredients for just one, so the pie on the left is an afterthought pie consisting of all the rest of the berries I could scrounge around the house. Maybe it could count as amnesty from another punishment? Nah... It's probably not good enough to qualify.

And here's why they're less cool. I tried to be lazy and cheat on the lattice crust by buying dough for the top but it turned out to be the wrong kind of dough and I had to take it off before it burned.

However, no one pie-jacked this time. Anyway tomorrow I'm going to Palo Alto to visit relatives there, so just a reminder that out of town vacations aren't punishable offenses.

One Little Palm Tree

Today I went out to run a bunch of errands and reaffirmed the need to recharge the batteries for my camera when I saw a shaggy little palm tree on the way, surrounded by deciduous trees, crying because he was all alone. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that tree, but here's a couple similar ones.

Oh, and my word count for July for all who're curious was 5,141 words, which proves once again that more time does not necessarily result in higher productivity.

I'm Back!

I have returned from my trip to Santa Barbara. Why did I go to Santa Barbara? Was it to shop on the famous State Street? No. Was it to see the beach with its misty mountain views and lines of palm trees? No. Was it to walk in the mountains that tower over the city? No. Was it to make fun of what would appear to be the country's smallest airport? No, not even that. Though I did see all of those things, and they were quite nice, I went to Santa Barbara to see my fabulous friends Tim and Mag. I'm also kinda lame about pictures, but here are some I took at the zoo.

Check out the happy family! So cute! I noticed while looking at this picture just now that there's an American flag flying almost perfectly in the wind in the background to the left. Yes, Tim is living the American Dream. A beautiful Asian wife and a half-Asian baby.

Oh, no! The strange lady stole the pretty baby! Why am I making a goofy face? That's a kidnapper face.

Okay, okay, no worries. I gave her back.

Check out this crazy fish! Braaaaaaiinsss....

I will continue to update daily while I'm at home, but I have at least two trips out of town coming up (August 7th-9th and August 14th-19th). So I will not be blogging during those times either but will NOT have to make pies because of it. Just so that's clear. I sill have to make another pie, though...

ARGH!

I was wrong. I was wrong. I will have to make my sister another pie. But not for another week. There isn't even an excuse. Once again, just sheer stupidity and procrastination gang up on each other. I will be staying with my friends Tim and Mag and I will not have to blog. That's right. I will be spending time with real people so I do not need to spend time with the computer. I MIGHT blog. But I do not have to blog for this period of time. I decided this is because the purpose of the blog was so I wouldn't isolate myself from other people, and so while I'm visiting my friends, this purpose is moot.

But keep an eye out for August 4th when I have to blog again.

I'm Not Making Another Pie

I've been hard up for blog material lately, but today I bought some empty bottles for my toiletries since I'll be doing a lot of traveling. I may have bought more than I needed, but the Legend of Zelda fan girl in me can't resist an empty bottle.

20q.net

If you need something to waste time one, here's a website that plays 20 questions with you. The classic 20q couldn't guess when I was thinking of a monkey, but the People 20q did guess when I thought of Colin Firth. However, it could not guess Neil Gaiman. Shame. So I remained to be impressed. The picture above is a toy from what I'm guessing is the same company. Though why anyone would want to buy a toy for something they could do for free either online or with another bored person is beyond me.

Interesting Legend I Found

I saw a book in the bookstore called Pope Joan. Apparently there's a medieval legend of a female Pope that to this day people aren't sure if it was true or not. The book said it was soon to be a major motion picture. Sadly, failed to mention the movie was in German. Looks cool though. I'd like to see it if they get some subtitles.

Also, on a cool sidenote, the guy who plays Faramir from Lord of the Rings is in this film.

Doughnuts and Economics

I had a craving for doughnuts today so my sister and I went down to the grocery store to get some because I've never seen a doughnut shop around here. My sister lives near a really ritzy mall that seems to have everything else. But to be honest, I only ever see doughnut shops in economically depressed or, in the very least, slightly sketchy areas. Why is that? And before you say that's because rich people won't eat fried dough, there are TWO pretzel stands in the mall.

I Want This Shirt

In case you can't read it, the Scarecrow's saying "Brains!" Run, Dorothy, run! I found this by clicking on a gmail ad. Sometimes it's uncanny how well those things know me...

If you're interested, and have more money than me, you can buy the shirt here.

Lost in Austen Review

I finally managed to get Lost in Austen from the library a few days ago but hadn't gotten around to reviewing it. I sent my thoughts to a friend though so, for the spoilers review, it'll be exactly what I told her because I'm lazy that way.

But first!

NON-Spoilers Review (This review does not contain pride, prejudice, or spoilers)

The premise of this British TV series was a modern woman got sucked into the story of Pride and Prejudice and her presence throws off the entire plot. She even discovers that some of the villains aren't as bad as she thought and some of the good characters aren't as perfect as she imagined. I had a good time watching it even if a few aspects did bug me. If you're looking for a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and you're able to turn off the little voice that says "That's not how it's supposed to go!", this could be a fun watch. This show even made me like Mr. Wickham. So if you're curious to see how that could happen, I recommend it. It's a nice imaginary frolic through Austen's regency England, but don't expect anything profoundly deep.

Spoilers Review

I liked it but I wasn't nuts about the ending. I felt really bad for Charlotte and that was never resolved. Going to Africa is arguably better than life with Mr. Collins but she seemed to believe that she had been abandoned by her one friend. Plus I never can completely buy a time travel romance where a modern person stays in the past. I can't imagine that they wouldn't quickly regret this decision with the lack of indoor plumbing, medicine, and as we saw in this one, toothpaste and brushes. But, still, I did find it amusing. One of my favorite phrases in French translates as "I passed a good moment." I think that defines this movie well.

Happy Birthday to Me!

When I was 16 or 17 people who run those guess your age booths at fairs always got my age wrong. They always thought I was older. One of them told me I looked 24. Today I am 24. Here's hoping I don't now look like I'm 32...

My mom made me some very pretty hairsticks (pictured above) and cooked me lots of yummy food. So I am a well-fed and nicely accessorized birthday girl.

Hilarious

I spotted this display in the Whole Foods by my house. This brand name is awesome. What an apple? Ask a yeti!

Harry Potter and the
Obnoxious Bike-Tire-Puncturing Plant

The following review DOES contain SPOILERS and non-verbal spells.

So my sister and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. I will address that far more pleasant part of our escapade first. So, we had a pleasant ride to the theater because we went at night so it wasn't the unbearably oppressive 101 degrees it has been in the day. It's possible it got as cool as 80 degrees which was very nice. I also got to see a very quick trailer to Percy Jackson which was awesome. I'm really hyped to see that.

Now, a review of Harry Potter:

I would like to establish that I did enjoy this film. The trouble is I always complain more in reviews than remark on positive things.

That being said, none of the Harry Potter movies have been able to include everything from the books, nor would I want them to. But ever since the fourth film I've had the sense that they're very disjointed visual cliff-notes versions of the books. This film did not improve on that. The pacing is so off at times that I can often be completely unaware how much time is supposed to have passed from one scene to the next. I was frequently confused and wondered if I'd missed something vital whenever I would look away from the screen for a few seconds to glare at someone on their cell phone. (By the way, I officially hate anyone who cannot sit through an entire movie without using their cell phone and wish I had X-Men super powers to short circuit any phone opened within several feet of me. Yes, even those expensive iPhones. Especially the expensive iPhones. Would serve them right...). Anyway, the point is, the pacing was off.

The characters, however, were all right on the spot. With the exception of strange nameless twins brought in (possibly to replace the Patils?), I loved all the characters, both big and small. Snape, of course, is always great, which was particulalry important in this film. Got to love pwning Harry too. Snape just flicks his wand and Harry goes flying. Brilliant. Though I wish they'd had the "Don't all me a coward!" line.

Even Dumbledore was great, though. That's saying something for me because, while I liked Micheal Gambon's performance in the third film, his portrayals of Dumbledore in the fourth and fifth film struck entirely the wrong cord. He was alternatingly too aggressive or too weak. But in this film, ala Goldilocks, he was just right. A shame it's the one where he dies. But at least he finally got it right. Maybe someone just needed to tell him Dumbledore was gay a long time ago. Perhaps that was the breakthrough he needed.

As for Harry, I found him to be a bit funnier in this one than the last two ones. Not that he's been without humor but I felt like I laughed out loud more in this one than I have in a while. I found his comment about Aragog's pincers and subsequent miming to be particularly amusing. I think they wasted a bit of time on having him flirt with a waitress, and that part seemed a little off and unnecessary. But otherwise Harry was fine.

I've never cared much for Hermione's character but I feel Emma Watson's acting has improved immensely. At least, I didn't have to watch her amazing dancing eyebrows this time. I even found myself enjoying several Hermione bits. I was actually really looking forward to the bird scene and was very glad they kept it in but I do wish more of the birds had actually hit Ron....

Speaking of Ron, he was also right on the money for how he was in the book. Which means he continues to be a disappointment to me as a character. Ron was my favorite character for the first four books, one I even related to. But he started going drastically downhill the last three books to the point where, even though I don't like Hermione, I think she deserves better. Why? He's insecure, jealous, and possessive. Besides that, he and Hermione don't share any common interests. Yes, there is the possibility that they can balance each other's personalities--Hermione giving Ron some sense and Ron making her relax more. But I always felt that Hermione became more relaxed over time on her own and didn't really need Ron. Anyway, we won't go too far down that road. I'll just say I'm NOT a Harry/Hermione shipper either. I just got really annoyed with Ron in the end.

Lavendar was perfect. Breathing on the window. Priceless.

So getting away from that controversial topic, I will also say Horace Slughorn was great. My sister felt he was even better than in the book, but I felt he was just as good. The armchair thing was well-done.

I was disappointed about them skipping the end battle in exchange for using their wands for what looked like lighters at a rock concert. Strange as well that Aragog got a funeral and Dumbledore didn't. I also wish the waitress scene could have been exchanged for Merope Gaunt's scene. But overall I had a good time and all the really important things were there.

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Now for the adventure that commenced after the movie. Preceeding the movie we had pushed our bikes over a place without sidewalk. It was dark and we couldn't see well and ended up pushing our bikes through the sticker bushes of doom! My sister had encountered these many times before but we couldn't see them in the dark. They flattened the tires on both our bikes and we had to walk two miles home at 2AM.



GAH! Crush! Kill! Destroy!

Parasol

My sister bought a couple parasols from the Renaissance Festival and gave the one pictured above to me. Some of my friends may find this hard to believe, but I don't often like being singled out of a crowd for being weird. But for the parasol I'll make an exception.

Ghost Month

I had forgotten to mention previously that while July is my birthday month (on the 20th for anyone interested) it's also Ghost Month in Taiwan. I suppose it sounds scary, but I felt it to be very beautiful. I did NOT make the video above, but I felt it was a pretty good description. Still, it can't replace being there, surrounded by vats of paper money, watching the ashes float up towards the heavens like so much black snow. I do not personally believe in ghosts, or think they would need money, but I think this is a beautiful way to remember.

Heat

Time to start worrying about this: http://www.medicinenet.com/heat_exhaustion/article.htm. Didn't actually have any of these symptoms but definitely felt overheated today.

California Pizza

Before I left Michigan someone asked me if there were California Pizza Kitchens in California. I didn't know at the time but now I do. The one pictured above is only a block and a half away from where I live.

Lost in Austen

My friend Amber recommended this show to me. It looks fun, but I wasn't able to find the whole thing on YouTube, despite the misleading title of the clip below. Just a lot of clips which are almost the whole thing but with bits missing. I'd prefer to watch it all together, so I was going to get it from the library today, but it was checked out before I left the house (I couldn't put a hold on it because it's too new). But I'll keep trying.