My Paper Towels Tell Me What to Do...

...Or rather, they have trite inspirational phrases like "Reach for the Stars" and "Live Life to it's Fulllest." Perhaps I will. But for now I should really Do My Laundry and Clean My Apartment.

Heh, Cute.

Pimp My PowerPoint

Some of the PowerPoint presentations I've been seeing at my grad orientation have just been normal, but the others are friggin' awesome! One was actually at visiting days that almost made me interested in HCI (Human Computer Interaction), despite my terror of compsci. But the other was yesterday with hilarious pictures.

One was this picture....

















The other was not exactly this picture but one much like us to inform us that no food would be allowed in the computer lab.

Also, if Becky's reading this, there is an Imposter Becky at my SI orientation. She looks like Becky but, of course, she is not. She is also, undoubtedly, only a pale shadow of Becky's awesomeness. Though she may be a nice shadow so I should probably get over the weirdness of it and say hi.

Anyone who reads this post may notice I'm in a better mood than I was during the last one, but thank you to Tim for his concern about my pathetic loneliness and I also realized I forgot to dub Heather Friend of the Week! (It doesn't matter that she commented last Saturday, she's going to get a full week of friendness, which means her friend week will end next Wednesday.)

Neil Gaiman's Free Advertising Agency of One Returns

Big Empty Apartment

Makes Cherie sad. I'm pretty lonely and pathetic at the moment. Whenever I hear a weird sound I become scared someone's here who shouldn't be. I guess it's been way too long since I've actually been on my own.

Belle

Just so my sister won't think this is random, consider this a "What Cherie's Listening To" post.

I have a huge playlist on YouTube of music videos which I'm listening to right now, and I have the song "Belle" from Notre Dame de Paris both in its original French and in Russian because it sounds awesome in both languages and the Russian video is actualy quite cool to watch. It's more fun and more cinematic than the French, because the French one is just ripped from the musical, which might be fun if you're in the audience but less so if it's just a tiny vid on YouTube. However there is one part of the Russian one that cracks me up because I think it looks like Phoebus's pants are on fire. Of course, considering his personality in the musical, I would say this is an apt representation. It's actually just supposed to look like he's surrounded by fire. Probably suppsed to represent the fire of passion or whatever. If that's the case, though, one could make an argument that it's still coming from his pants.

Anyway, here are both vids for your viewing pleasure:
French
Russian

Jet-lagged

The jet-lag seems to have hit me harder today than it did yesterday. I feel like going to bed early rather than later, though, which seems weird, but it's probably for the best.

Just Can't Keep Away

I have my very dubious half-dead laptop jury rigged to work and kudos to Michigan for setting up a relatively decent internet network. If it'll work with this computer, which doesn't meet several of it's MINIMUM requirements, it's pretty good.

This also proves that Cherie finds one day without the internet intolerable and that desperation and being really lonely in a big empty apartment are powerful tools.

Now there's also something very cool on youtube I want you all to see. At least, I think it's cool. But I may be very biased. If you don't know who the vlogbrothers are, then you may want to fast forward to 00:43 seconds of the following video to see what I want you to see: http://youtube.com/watch?v=la2WVpjq5-U

However, I highly recommend watching their other videos. The previous one won't make any sense to people who don't already follow it, but these two should be hilarious to anyone with the ability to laugh:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xy1M5VHF3no
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QDEm5qPYTq4

The only background that might be slightly helpful for the first video is that the guy int the video, is award-winning young adult novelist, John Green. Most notably, he wrote Looking for Alaska and An Abundace of Katherines. This way you know why he's so awesome but also why he has author editions of those books.

I've really been meaning to give these guys a good review for months, but I'm a bit too tired today for a proper one. So, for now, here's the short version: they're awesome. Go back through the videos and watch them from the beginning.

Expulsion From Paradise

It's funny how appealing a floor full of legos, box forts, and demons (otherwise know as little brothers and their little friends) seems when you compare it to horrifying uncertainty for the next two years. I went out on the town in Oceanside today for what will be the last time in a long time, and when I was walking from the bus stop back to my dad's house, I was suddenly keenly aware just how beautiful California is all year round. It makes me really question just how attached I am to the Midwest: which is not very much now that all my family lives in California. But the fact that I was ever dubious about living in California instead of the Midwest, shows you just how important my family is to me (and maybe how opposed I am to change since none of them have lived in the Midwest for the past two years). Anyway, I hope to be close to them again once grad school is done.

Tear-jerking thoughts aside, I wanted to say that this is actually an old picture of my dad's front garden. I have not taken any pictures outside since I got here. Mostly because the few times I did go for walks, I'd forget my camera. Today I really regretted this when I saw a truly awesome tiny black and yellow bird flitting around the flowers by the sidewalk. I know Chrissy would have thought it was awesome too. But I did not have my camera. Sorry Chrissy.

Well, I don't know when I'll be able to blog again. I'll be traveling for basically a full two days. (Guess what novel recently made into a movie that I'll be reading on the plane...) After that I'll almost certainly have trouble setting up my internet. Then I'll probably be really busy with school. So it may be a while until I blog again, but I'll try to let all you loyal readers know when that is. It would also be really helpful if those loyal readers would leave comments here so I know exactly who they are. Otherwise, I'll just inform people who should be reading.

All that said, here's to the next two years.

Apologies to People on the Train to Oceanside

No, the train I traveled on was not nearly so quaint, but I would have preferred this one. Plus it probably would have been faster and less irritating than how I eventually got to Oceanside.

Obviously it's been a few weeks since I came to see my dad, but the following events have been bugging me since I first arrived, and as my next great traveling adventure nears, I feel I should get them off my chest. They are two totally unrelated stories.

The first is when I was waiting (an inordinately long time I might add) for the train to open its doors. It was sitting there long before the doors deemed to open. In this time a girl sat next to me and I saw she was holding the new Harry Potter book along with another book I didn't recognize. I felt compelled to say something though I can't recall what. But it got us talking about Harry Potter and some other things. She was quite friendly and I would have liked to have sat next to her and talked a bit more. Indeed, I think that's what she expected me to do. But we were sadly separated when I was reluctant to go to the second floor because of all my luggage.

I ended up having to struggle up those stairs anyway later in the trip because the first floor is reserved for the elderly and handicapped--not those merely crippled by luggage. Unfortunately my fellow Harry Potter fan was nowhere in sight.

Then there was another bus trip before I was finally on my way to Oceanside and as I was struggling to the back of the train where worthless dregs like me are kept, some boy asked if I was on my way to ComicCon. At least, I thought he asked me. Could have been someone else but I did have a Harry Potter backpack and they thought they were having a podcast there (except there was a miscommunication, I think)

Now, ComicCon is an enormous combination of all things awesome. I'm not much of a comic fan, but ComicCon has grown to encompass fantasy and scifi in general and is now just a huge convention for people with good taste. Plus, as I found out later, Neil Gaiman was a guest speaker, and they talked about Stardust and all manner of great things. Yes, I would have liked to have been going to ComicCon. But I was not.

Harassed, weary, and pushed by a flood of people, I gave this boy only one answer. "Me?"

I meant it as a sort of "If I were only so lucky" "Me?" but tired and in pain from pulling my bags it ended up sounding more like a "Ha! I am too cool for ComicCon you mere nerdy mortal."

So on the infinitesimal chance that boy is reading this, I'm sorry if that's what you thought I meant.

And ComicCon rocks.

* * *

Yes! If you search Domain of the Jade Empress on google, my Stardust review is the FIRST thing to turn up. GOOoooo, incessant linking! I guess if you link to something enough, it'll pop up #1 on google and it doesn't matter if it's just another post in your own blog. This presents some very interesting possibilities...

Of course, I doubt anyone would search Domain of the Jade Empress if they didn't know about my blog, but considering I didn't used to be #1 even when I did do that, this is quite an achievement.

Happy Birthday Fangmei!



It's my step-mom's birthday today. I made her a card with a Chinese phoenix which was an inferior replica of the print which I did not draw above. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the card itself, and it'd be too awkward to ask for it back to do that now. Anyway she thought it was a peacock. Still, I don't believe in contradicting the birthday girl, and she's happy with it, which is all that really matters.

She puts up with a lot, my step-mom. Part of it coming from me sneaking around the house at night in search for snacks when she's already provided me with plenty of healthy meals. This might not be so bad if I weren't so bad at sneaking. But I'm horribly clumsy and generally end up making several loud sounds at like 1am. Yes. It is Cherie that goes bump in the night.

* * *

What's this? Click it to find out! It may or may not be my Stardust review... Speaking of Stardust when I looked at Rotten Tomatoes recently (it's changed by now) the critic opinion had gone up 1% whereas the user opinion went down 1%. So critics got 1% smarter whereas people in general got 1% stupider. And the universe remains balanced.

But now that it's changed the user opinion is back at 88% and the universe has tipped slightly back in favor of people in general.

Quick Sketch I Did

See if you can guess what she's supposed to be.




* * *

Stardust: Just see it.

Funny Deathly Hallows FanArt

The Deathstick-spoiler?- by ~TardleyTuna on deviantART


I think everyone who reads my blog has finished reading it by now but I hope no one thinks that spoiled it. I don't really consider that a spoiler though, just funnier if you've read the book. The following pic is a definite spoiler though, so if you happened to have wandered into this blog for the first time and you haven't read Deathly Hallows, then don't click the link below.

A certain character convincing Death that he's not dead...
(Click the picture if it's too small to read.)

* * *

Also my sister finally saw Stardust and she loved it! She seemed to think I should have been more effusive in convincing her to see it. I told her I haven't been trying to single-handedly advertise the movie for nothing, but I'm glad she loved it too. :)

Happy Birthday Dennis!

It's my brother's birthday today. He's six years old and so cute. :) Normally I don't post pictures of my brothers but I figure not too many people read my blog. This one is an old one but oh so adorable...

The Romanovs are Officially Saints

They were sainted in 2000 according to the wikipedia article on Anastasia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikolaevna_of_Russia

* * * * *

Speaking of Christianity, here's what a few religious reviewers had to say about Stardust according to Neil Gaiman: STARDUST was rated Very Offensive at the Christian Spotlight website, while the Catholic Bishops Conference seem to find it less so (while warning of both implied premarital sex and a character born out of wedlock as a result of said implied premarital sex).

Read my Stardust review here.

Too Cute to be Outlaws

I was looking up ferrets on YouTube and found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9S7o9Bju4k

I'm not trying to make any political statements by posting this but I do have to say I'm against the banning of ferrets anywhere. I mean, look how cute...

* * * * *
If the banning of ferrets has depressed you, maybe you can see the ferrets fight back in Stardust.

Polish People Have Movie Trailers for Books!

Which makes them the first people to go on my newly founded Wall of Awesome. Here's the book trailer to Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x7vuIiGPFU

*****

Yup, I'm still linking to my Stardust Review

Ouran High School Host Club Review

My complaint about one of the Eurasian characters aside, I love this anime series. I found it through a music video I saw about it on YouTube. Normally, I like the look of anime but hold no hope of ever understanding what’s going on. Still something about the scenes I saw in this caught my interest. I wanted to know their context and they seemed character based enough that I thought I might be able to wrap my mind around them. So I scoured YouTube but all the full episodes had been deleted. I then saw the first 13 on Veoh until they were deleted as well. So if my review sparks anyone’s interest, I can tell you where I finally found all the episodes. Just email me and ask.

I felt bit bad about downloading them because I would be willing to buy them, but I could not find a trustworthy website to buy them from. They were not available at amazon or any other name brand retailer I checked. If anyone does know a reliable place to buy these DVDs, let me know. I found a few sites but I don’t necessarily trust every site with a URL and a paypal. I like to know someone has bought from them before and not suffered for it.

In any event, on with the review:

This anime is only 26 episodes long which I think is a good length. It doesn’t get too weird or complicated that way. I read the manga which is slightly different and I didn’t like it as much because the anime, in my mind, already achieved perfection. Why is it so good? Character development. I know I say it a lot, but characters are easily the most important thing to me in a story. Still, there is more to this anime than that. At its core it addresses the difficult issue of gender identity while still staying upbeat and always managing to make me smile, laugh, and see the world as just a little sunnier.

At the same time it’s written as a clever satire of the feminine manga genre in Japan. But it doesn’t just make fun—it embraces what is good while laughing at the same time.

All the same, it is a good thing I became interested in the series before I heard the theme song which starts with the words “Kiss, kiss, fall in love.” Not the type of thing I would normally watch. It is also very...pink. But if you’re like me, please disregard this and skip the opening if you must because the story is worth it. Although, I must confess even the theme song grew on me after a while.

That embarrassing admission aside, I think I should explain the “Host Club.” When I first heard the word "Host" it inspired images of aliens and pod people. But maybe that’s just me. The Host Club is actually just like a group of male geisha. For anyone who does not know what a geisha is, they are NOT prostitutes. A proper geisha is a living work of art meant to please men and make them happy in various non-sexual ways. It is true that geishas hint at sex a lot. The kimono of a geisha shows off her neck more than a normal kimono which is a very risqué thing in Japan. But in the end, sex is not in any way the purpose of a geisha. She is like a hostess. There are actually professional “hostesses” in Japan as well, but they’re not geisha. Hopefully that’s not too confusing. The point is these are like male geisha: their only goal is to make the rich girls of their school happy. To do this they host what seems to be a perpetual tea party in the Third Music Room and they also plan parties, events, and costume extravaganzas. They also, of course, happen to all be good-looking. The truly ironic thing is that as much as some of the scenes would make certain puritanical Americans squirm, the only character to ever even kiss anyone is Haruhi. Tamaki talks a lot about kissing the girls he’s charming but the scene always cuts to flowers and all you here is a swoon. It’s actually tamer than the average American TV show.

With that explanation out of the way, I feel I should give a summary of each character since I praised the characterization so much. Just a little blurb on their personality and what makes it cool. Not enough to spoil anyone.

Haruhi: The main character and difficult to talk about without giving away a major story detail that you don’t find out until the end of the first episode, but I’ll do my best and resort to being brief. Haruhi breaks a vase valuing 8 million yen and is thus indebted to the Host Club. Unable to pay the debt, Haruhi becomes their “dog,” a servant who must do all the Club’s menial labor. But Tamaki is touched by the “commoner” background of this “special student” and Haruhi is a great and hilarious grounding character among this grotesquely rich crowd.

Tamaki: Founder of the club. Tamaki is probably the only one in the group who truly believes in its actual purpose. All the rest of the members he rounded up later joined the club for one personal reason or another. Still, they generally play along with Tamaki’s schemes either for amusement or because, secretly, they all love him as a true and honest friend. This does not, however, stop them from teasing him mercilessly for his unshakeable optimism and rage to help people.

Kyoya: Tamaki’s best friend and polar opposite. You’ll have to watch the series to really understand why they’re friends at all but this dark, cold, and calculating character is my favorite. He is referred to as the club’s “Shadow King” since he has invisible influence over Tamaki.

Hikaru and Kaoru: Twin brothers with a strange and even sexually ambiguous bond. Still, the series is artfully written where you can make a case that twincest is obvious or argue just as believably that they simply like messing with people. Their mischievous nature recalls the likes of Fred and George Weasley. But their past is revealed in beautiful and heartbreaking flashbacks which help you to understand how they grew up only relying on each other. You also slowly see that the two actually have distinct personalities and that Haruhi is the first person to ever tell them apart.

Honey: A high school senior and one of the oldest in the group but with his small stature you would never know it. He still acts like a child and delights in gorging on cake and carrying around a pink bunny doll. I might find this level of cuteness for an older person unbelievable if I didn’t know my sister... Still, the soft cuddly exterior hides a hidden edge. Also like my sister.

Mori Takashi: The only other senior in the club and the huge, hulking constant companion to Honey. He is quite stoic. If you put all his lines in the entire series together in 12 font and normal margins, they probably would not fill a word-processed page. He’s probably the least interesting character but he still reminds me a little of a character from my novel, so I don’t feel right signing him off completely.

As for the end of the series, while I might have enjoyed more episodes, I really like how this story ends. I won’t tell, of course, but it keeps with the feel of the series in my opinion, and I found it to be very fitting and fulfilling.

* * * * *

Click here for my Stardust Review.

Post and Punishment

I have promised my sister that I will post everyday at least until the end of my vacation (I can’t promise anything once school starts). If I do not, I must read at least a chapter from a fanfiction she has been pestering me to read. You may all think this is pretty lame as a punishment, but I do not like fanfiction. I have read and even written fanfiction, but I eventually signed it off as a waste of time which I could better use to write in my novel. I will not say that those that write fanfiction are not talented. It actually bothers me more if they are. If someone is talented enough, I just think it’s a shame they’re not coming up with original novels. I wouldn’t even begrudge them the fanfiction if they were publishing novels as well. But I’ve never met one who does. A few novelists might have started out writing fanfiction, but I don’t know any still doing it. Why? Because real writing takes up too much time. My sister doesn’t see it this way, though, and I think this may be something we disagree on for a long, long time.

Still, to be fair, anything has got to be better than the book pictured in this post. *Shudders*

On a completely unrelated note, Sarah is once again friend of the week! You can now read her thoughts on my Order of the Phoenix film review.

Here's a link to just my Stardust Review.

Just in case you came to read that and can't find it. Or you could just scroll down. I'm going to feature this movie for a while either until a friend goes to see it because of me or until I lose all hope of the world being good and just.

Eurasians

Now, I'm usually kind of leery of frequent updates when I have a review I want people to read. But I really have been wanting to start updating every day, so I'm just going to advertise my Stardust Review again. Please scroll down a couple posts to read it if you haven't already. Sorry for the repetition, but I'm really appalled at how little promotion this movie has gotten from the media. I'm only one girl, but I'm going to try my hardest to support what I believe in. Neil Gaiman. Well...him and good fantasy.

Anyway, on with the show.

I wanted to do a review of my new favorite anime before this post, but that will have to wait until later. Mostly I'm too tired for gushing but not for complaining.

Here's the deal. I'm not Eurasian. I'm Amerasian. But I like the sound of Eurasian better, and they're pretty much the same genetically as me, so that's what really what matters. The point is that someone who is of half Asian and half European descent generally looks like this:



They do not look like this:



Or this:



Granted, they could if both their parents were also Eurasian, but I think having so many blond-haired, blue-eyed Eurasians popping up in fiction makes people ignorant of how genetics work. So here is a brief and simple lesson for everyone. Blond hair is a recessive gene. Blue eyes are also a recessive gene. That means, unless you're pretty darn mixed, you're not likely to get them if you're a Eurasian because BOTH parents have to have a recessive gene for it to take dominance. Now, my mother has recessive genes for both blond hair and blue eyes, though she does not have either herself. But my dad, Taiwanese through and through, most certainly does not have a gene for blond hair or blue eyes. That is why the vast majority of Eurasians should look like this:



Yay for gratuitous pictures of me! But seriously, I think I get annoyed seeing blond-haired, blue-eyed Eurasians because we look so darn good the way we are! (Once again, I'm referring to myself as Eurasian. I am where it counts anyway.) To portray us as looking completely unlike what we normally do is almost to imply that we're not hot the way we are. I disagree with this vehemently, so I just needed to get this post out there. GOOoooo mixed blood!

New Friend of the Week and a Few Forgotten...

This Week's friend is Sarah! Thank you for commenting Sarah! You can read her thoughts of my Deathly Hallows review in the comments.

Also, this reminded me that I forgot to acknowledge a few previous friends. They've all commented before, but I appreciate repeat commenters just as much as new ones so shout outs here to:

Becky and Brian: For their thoughtful comments on my Order of the Phoenix review and for wishing me a happy birthday!

I should also note here that Heather and Laura wished me a happy birthday as well. It just was by email instead. So thanks to them for that! :) But if they want colorful names they'll have to comment on something in my blog...

Tim: For telling me when he and Mag finished Deathly Hallows.

My sister Chrissy probably deserves a mention too because I twist her arm into reading most the stuff here and she's quite genial about that. Love you Chrissy!

A hearty thanks to all who read this as well, but remember, you cannot be honored unless I know you're reading!

Stardust Movie Review

No spoilers. No worries. Just opinions.

I was expecting to be supremely disappointed by this movie, but watching the interview with Neil Gaiman I talked about in my previous post coaxed me into seeing it. I'm glad I did. I loved this movie. This was one of the best fantasy movies I've seen in years. Period. I really shouldn't have doubted Neil. Of course, to be fair, it was actually Hollywood I was doubting which I think is entirely fair. The God of movies is often fickle and cruel, but every so often true gems fall to Earth from his devilish workshop and Stardust is one of those gems.

The first thing I was skeptical of was the title: Stardust. It sounds...sparkly, just the sort of thing Hollywood likes to turn into a movie filled with princesses on unicorns and...

Okay...yes...that is a girl on a unicorn. But she's not a princess and it's not as if we have some pretty boy Prince...

Ahem...well, yes, he is very pretty. So pretty... But that's not the point! The point is the movie is good in spite of these conventions. Recently I've felt that Hollywood has figured that if it puts enough magical elements into a movie, it'll attract all the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings addicts. Being one of these addicts this generally leaves me jaded. I love fantasy. That's why I hate seeing it abused by producers trying to make a quick buck. Many of these movies leave the plot behind in the process. What? It's got magic in. We even have good-looking actors! What more do you want? We don't have the budget left for a plot.

But I suppose it'd be a complete waste of money to give Neil Gaiman (as he calls it) "a wheelbarrow full of money" if you weren't going to use his ideas. Not that morons in Hollywood haven't done this to other authors, but luckily whoever bought the rights to Stardust knew better.

EDIT: Turns out Neil trusted the guy who wanted to do this movie so much that he gave him the rights for free. Always a good sign. If I was an author, I'd want money even if I did trust them. But maybe that's just me.

I hate comparing stories because it is my nightmare to see my book one day on a display reading "If you liked Harry Potter..." It's because this is a crass marketing tool that publishers use to cram all books of a certain genre together. But I say with the highest respect for both stories: Stardust is The Princess Bride of our generation.

EDIT: I've looked at Neil's blog and he doesn't seem to think it is like Princess Bride at all, but it seems many other reviews have said the exact same thing as me. Neil says:

"Which is nice. I've tried to explain to interviewers that, no, I don't think it has much in common with The Princess Bride, they're at present the only two things in that genre."

Well, yeah. The good non-franchised fantasy genre is rather small. So I'm sorry, Neil, but I'm gonna have to agree with the reviewers on this one. Ugh...I feel dirty just saying that...

But it's true. Stardust resembles Princess Bride in more than just genre and greatness. It's not quite as quirky or campy. However, its simple but brilliant hero's quest features high adventure and swashbuckling fun while still having dazzling character development. Sound familiar now? The romance in Stardust actually is a little more developed and interesting than in Princess Bride when you come right down to it. I was a bit skeptical of the lead male at first because he was so pretty. Too often they use that as an excuse not to develop a guy's character. But I had fallen in love with him by the end along with many of the other characters, and I was rooting for him even though I know, just like everyone else, how fairy tales normally turn out. The circumstances aren't new--murder, greed, true love. But the characters, and the heart that went into them, were what made it great.

Plus there's plenty of humor but it balances with the action. I have not read the book (possibly a good idea because, even though I liked the film, books are always better) but Neil's particular brand of dark humor (and light humor and all types of humor in between) was scrawled all over this movie. I laughed quite a lot.

Yes, those are goats steering her chariot. Now that's something you don't see in every fairy tale. Plus, while I was really skeptical of the flying pirates, they turned out to be some of my favorite characters. Yeah! Flying pirates! Take that in the eye Pirates of the Caribbean!

As for the special effects they are awesome and what give the film its visual adventure and scope. There's no lack for eye-candy and it's certainly worth seeing the airship on the big screen. I am sorry to make the comparison again, but this is less of a comparison and more of a highlighted improvement. This film is what Princess Bride would have been with about three times the budget and modern computer technology. Sometimes money and technology are a bad things, but I think this film had just enough and not too much. It does what it's supposed to do--enhances the story, not take it over.

In short, I highly recommend everyone go see this movie and fund good fantasy!

I don't want to twist anyone's arm or anything, but remember, the more people that go and see this film, the more likely more good films like it will be made (i.e. the more movie execs asking Neil Gaiman to write stuff.)

Number ranking: 9.8/10 (A couple decimal points shaved off only for predictability of certain events, but it is a fairy tale. Just a fairy tale written by a mad genius!)

Link to the trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/stardust/

Cherie Scheherazade

I was watching a marvelous interview with Neil Gaiman when he began to read some poems. Now, my reaction to poems seems to be what he got to these poems and he was so charming joking about it that I gave them a listen and they were actually pretty good. For poems. *Looks shifty having admitted that*

Anyway one was about Scheherazade, but it was really about writing. It touched me in a completely unintended way because as a child I always hated my name and a part of me, while reconciled with the cuteness, still feels it's not the name of a great author and that I'll have to resort to my initials or a pen name to be taken seriously. And I still may have to. But listening to Gaiman's poem made me realize that my name is the echo of one of the greatest storytellers of all time. Cherie. Short for Scheherazade.

So thanks Neil and thanks Mom. I have a new appreciation for my name.

Below is a link to the interview. It's slightly over an hour which is the longest thing I've ever seen on YouTube. I always assumed it wasn't possible to download something that long. But I guess it is. Anyway, the whole thing's worth watching if you have an hour to spare. He's such a hilarious and interesting guy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7LmfCGy_ZLg&mode=related&search=

Just Keep Swimming

16,413 words written in my novel in July, not counting the many that were cut from the story. I've still written an average of 500 words every day. By this I mean I was forced to skip a few days in extenuating circumstances (Harry Potter release, etc), but I did make up for it by writing enough the following days.

In addition to that, I edited a 1,341 word section from my old draft into the new one, morphing it into a 1,640 word section. But this is where numbers don't matter as much as I'd like. Actual editing has never been a particularly rewarding process for me, because I have such a hard time gaging how much work I've actually done. For someone who hates math, I still seem to like quantitative qualifiers for my work. Still, adding words to a section doesn't always make it better. Most the words I added were only to change the context, as well. The words I cut were more important, because, for the most part, it was just a good scene that needed pruning. This is real work, once again, but sometimes it feels almost like cheating, like I've taken a finished painting and just added a few brush strokes here and there. Nevermind I made the first painting.

Anyway, my other problem was just that the ideas were not flowing as easily as they were in June, but as you can see, I'm trying to stay optimistic about it. I'm having a lot of trouble with my main character and usually end up rewriting her scenes several times. This leads me to avoid writing about her a lot more than I should considering she's the main character. But when I look back at the good stuff, it still captivates me in a way my own writing never has, and it deserves to be finished so that the truly great ideas might one day have a chance to be appreciated by more than me, my sister, and a select group of friends. So I will struggle onward.

You're probably wondering why I don't just cut out my main character. I've considered it, but the whole story folds in on itself each time I envision such a scenario because she either has to be replaced, which would defeat the point of removing her as any new character would likely have the same problem and end up being her anyway; Or I cut her out entirely and my evil characters can live happily ever after together committing evil deeds--quite a tempting thought when I'm scraping about four days of work in frustration. But for now I am still determined make Gloria (my wayward main character) work because it seems to be the only way my story works. Plus I need to work out my issue with main characters in general. I've mostly solved my issue with female characters. I now like all my female characters but Gloria. So there's still hope that I can come to the same revelation for the main character.

Currently (As of August 6th because I'm too lazy to go back and figure out what it was when I first wrote this) the whole story is about 113.5 pages and 69,837 words.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Book Review

*Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers* *Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers*
If you have not read the book, do not read this review!

You've been warned.

OMG the owl.

That just needed to be said before anything else.

Anyway, sorry for the delay in this review, but finally, after several traveling debacles, course planning stress, and crippling laziness, you finally have my review for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Before I tear into it, though, I just want it to be known that I liked the book. It wasn't as good as The Prisoner of Azkaban which remains my unchallenged favorite, but it wasn't as disappointing or frustrating to read as The Order of the Phoenix. And despite all my griping, I have enjoyed the series as a whole. I am not the type of person to take things in parts. I am a firm believer in accepting the reality of things as a whole and not to pick and choose, even if the truth is ugly. Even if the truth is fictional. That is why, if something does not go the way I want, you will not see me writing alternate universe fan fiction to soothe my wounded soul. If these books have taught us anything, it's that life hurts, even fantasy, fictional lives. We can lose those we love in a heartbeat. It doesn't have to make sense or be "necessary." It has also taught us that we don't always get what we expect from people. Be careful who you admire. Be careful who you hate.

Do I think Deathly Hallows is the perfect ending? No. The perfect ending does not exist. But the series definitely had to end. It would have been far worse if Rowling had broken down and written it forever. With that in mind, I am satisfied, and I will valiantly defend the entire series against anyone suddenly hating it because Dobby and the Giant Squid don't get together in the end.

Okay, now I'll tear into this book like a five year old with a birthday present.

The Title:

Before I even opened the book, I knew I was not going to like the title unless it was really well-explained.

It was not.

I know the Hallows were explained, quite well; I liked the wizard fairy-tale. It was written to sound very authentic as a piece of folklore. But even it cannot justify the awkward sound of the title. Perhaps it's just me, but "deathly" does not seem like the right word. "Deathly" most commonly denotes that something is like death. But the Hallows are not like death. They were created by Death, which, in my mind, is a distinct difference. If Death created a fluffy bunny (reasons unknown) would that make it the Deathly Bunny?

I know I'm probably being really nit-picky, but a title is very important to a book. It sets the tone. For me this title sets the tone of things that don't quite make sense. Perhaps this was foreshadowing for the whole elder wand thing which takes several re-readings to make sense, but still, a title should make sense even if nothing else does. This one does not and it all hinges on one word. I am used to seeing the word "deathly" in sentences like "She turned deathly pale." What this title should really be, in my opinion, is Harry Potter and Death's Hallows. The Hallows belong to Death because he created them. Ignoring the whole goblin maker-versus-possessor argument in the book, this title makes the most sense. But, Cherie, you say, that's forgetting about the ever important indispensable "the" in all the Harry Potter titles. Yes, and that's another thing that bothers me. Despite the fact that I know J.K. Rowling chose this title, and she has not mentioned having a problem with it, I still see the following scenario in my head: J.K says "I'm going to call it Harry Potter and Death's Hallows."
The publisher makes a face. "But where's the "the?"
"The what?"
"The 'the.' All the other Harry Potter books have 'the' in them."
"I'm J.K. Rowling! I can call it whatever I want! I don't need a 'the'"
"Security! She's gone too far, get the dementors!"
"AAAhhhhh! Nnnnnoooooo!"

So yeah. I know "deathly" can also be an adjective, but I also still primarily see it as an adverb, so the title seems to be stretching the poor word to the farthest extents of its meaning. I think the problem is the "Harry Potter and the..." formula cannot wrap itself around an abstract concept. All the other titles have been something you can touch. The sorcerer's stone, the chamber of secrets (if you ran your hands over the walls), the prisoner of Azkaban, the goblet of fire (be careful, it's a portkey!), the order of the pheonix (give them all a poke, poke Dumbledore in the tummy and see if he makes the Pillsbury doughboy sound), the half-blood Prince (you can poke Snape, not a good idea, but you could.)

Sure, you can touch the Hallows, but not the fact that they're associated with death. If you went the Chamber of Secrets route, it would be the Hallows of Death which sounds like a lame B-Horror film. I get that she wanted to have the word "Death" in the title, but I just don't think this is the best way it could have been done.

Deaths:

There are a plethora of complaints in the fandom that many of the deaths were "unnecessary." But this is the state of death in the real world. Is it necessary that people die everyday? On a grand scale, sure. We'd overpopulate if our numbers didn't get shaved off on a regular basis. But no one thinks that those numbers should include the people they love. I am more concerned, in the end, with how people live or lived. Still, in this book, it's impossible not to address the many deaths. Rather than debate their necessity, though, I will analyze what literary merit (or lack thereof) their death had. That is the closest I get to necessity. Anyone is fair game, but there's something called style...

HHHHHHEEEEEEEEDDDWWIIIIIIIIIIGG!!!!!

*Sobs*

Out of all the deaths, I was most broken up about Hedwig. It's the worst, not only because she's an innocent animal who depends on Harry to defend her, but she was also caged at the time. She didn't even have a chance to escape. Then, to top it all off, she exploded. J.K couldn't just AK Hedwig. No. She had to incinerate her. Thanks Jo, you're the reason I'm dead inside.



Mad-Eye Moody

He died fighting. I know he was always careful, but that was because he knew the dangers of his job. It's hard to grieve for someone who went into the fight with both eyes open (and one probably looking behind him). I think the toast to Moody in the book is fitting and he wouldn't have wanted a lot of extra soggy weeping. It interrupts the constant vigilance.



Snape

The big one. I kind of saw it coming. I WOULD like to gloat to any fool who thought Snape was evil. I stuck by him the whole time, and I have the "Trust Snape" stickers to prove it. I just finished listening to a podcast entirely devoted to Snape, and inevitably there were fans upset, not only by the fact he died but the manner in which he died and the reasons for it. To their credit, they haven't kidnapped J.K. Rowling and tried to coerce her into retraction, and it's everyone's right to feel how they like. But I have to say I was mostly satisfied with Snape's story. It felt a little like I was walking into fan-fiction when I found out Snape had loved Lily, but it is a reasonably obvious answer, and J.K. Rowling's romances are pretty transparent. Many Snape fans were disappointed with just how obvious it was, but aside from the fact that I think the original set-up was a bit creepy (he's like a stalker and he's only like ten years old), I think they had enough of a legitimate friendship that it justifies his later feelings. Plus it's clear he didn't have much love from home, so it makes sense that he would have seen Lily, seen that she was magic, roughly his same age, and instantly related to her. He either went to a muggle school up to that point or was home-schooled, and either way, he probably did not have any friends his own age and may have never seen another child like him. Still, I think it might have been nice if some of what I've conjectured went into the set up of why he was watching Lily, because otherwise it looks a lot like stalking.

Still the scene where Snape waits for Lily outside the portrait hole to apologize was one of the most poignant, heartbreaking scenes in the whole book. I don't normally like tragic death, but let's face it, Snape never could have lived happily ever after. One Snape fan suggested that we could have seen him getting on the train with Lily when Harry was in the dream version of King's Cross. But in the afterlife Lily would be with James. Snape lost his one chance to make things right, and even if he could find a time turner and go back to find a way for Lily to forgive him, then Harry Potter would never have existed, and that's not going to happen. So Snape had to die.



Fred

In spite of what I said about all deaths being unnecessary, it does bother me that Fred got caught in a literary cog. It's tragic if you kill one in a set of twins. So let's do it! Rowling says it was Fred because he seems like the stronger one, but I think it was Fred because George already lost an ear, and it's crummier for him to live out his life one-eared and without his brother than it is for him to be the one who dies. If he dies then losing the ear was the least of his problems. Anyway, I really wanted Percy to be the one to end up taking Fred's place and giving up the ministry to work in the joke shop with George, but Rowling has said that he hasn't and that he's taken up a job under Kingsley. She even took away my ability to ignore her by putting him in platform 9 3/4 for...what reason? Is he married? Does he have kids? Inquiring minds want to know...

And I know this is supposed to be about Fred. Sorry Fred. Peeves will put a toilet seat on your grave in homage.



Dobby

The "Here lies Dobby, a free elf" choked me up more than any of the human deaths. It was well written, but why couldn't Jo have spent a little more time on the actual people?

Oh, Dobby, we will knit socks in your honor.







Lupin and Tonks

Whereas Snape's death had a sort of tragic poetry, the deaths of Lupin and Tonks had clear almost formulaic literary motives. Rowling even admitted it. She said she wanted to kill parents. And most keen readers could see Lupin signed his death warrant when he made Harry the godfather of his son. Because of that, their deaths seemed contrived to me. Plus, I know it's a big book, but they at least deserved death scenes. I think, if Lupin was going to die, then he should have had an epic battle with Greyback, but Rowling just said in an interview that Dolohov finished him off. What did happen to Greyback anyway? Did he join a circus, marry the bearded lady, and start eating acrobats?


It also might have been nice if Tonks had a few sentences. Jo says Bellatrix killed her. Might have been good to give Bella some more lines toward the end too other than "My Lord."

Anyway, since Jo didn't actually write it, I'm going to imagine Lupin's epic battle with Greyback because it's not exactly glossing over canon. It's glossing over an interview which I likely would not have read if it weren't Harry Potter. Sometimes the beauty of a book is not knowing everything the author thinks.



Triumph and Smiles:

It's a grim book, but there were some things that made me smile or even throw up my hands in triumph and say YEAH!! This chapter picture made me do a double-take, but I liked how it ended with the Dursleys. I had hoped for a little more from Petunia, but I guess Rowling doesn't have a lot of hope for people like that. Maybe she's right. Maybe after all these years, after the death of her sister, after Harry saved the life of her son, she still can't even muster a decent mature forgiveness.

Still, the Dudley goodbye was priceless.



Neville. Sigh... Can I have my detention now, Professor Longbottom? I have loved Neville for a long time. Probably ever since Order of the Phoenix which was a bad book for Harry but an awesome book for Neville. The scene where he puts his mother's gum wrapper in his pocket broke my heart and endeared him to me forever. Since then I knew just how awesome he was, but I had hardly hoped that Rowling felt the same. Luckily, it would appear she did. Well, maybe not about the detention thing. But in this instance, Rowling exceeded my expectations. I had thought he might help Harry, but I had not expected it to be in as significant a way as it was. When Harry ditched all the people at Hogwarts, who stepped to the front line without blinking? When that darn snake needs beheading, who pulls the sword from the hat? Who totally spat in Voldemort's eye (metaphorically at least)!? That's right, it's Neville! There was an online chat with J.K. Rowling where we were allowed to ask questions in advance. I asked if Neville was married. She didn't answer. But that's okay. In my heart, he's married to me....



If you read my Order of the Phoenix film review, you know I feel about Percy about the same as I do about Neville but I probably have less canon reasons. Most of what I imagine him to really be like is in my head and part of that is due to this fan picture which I saw years ago. This picture somehow encapsulates everything I find attractive about Percy, the red hair, the glasses, the books, the scroll in his pocket. Ggrrowl. So I thought it fitting to put the picture here as my love for Percy has come full circle in being vindicated. That, and I couldn't find any good pictures of Chris Rankin as Percy.

I also predicted he would redeem himself. OH YEAH! I love being right. But even more, I was happy how it went down. Like I said, I would have been happier if he had joined George in the joke shop, but part of loving someone is loving them for who they are and not expecting them to change--just to realize when they're wrong. And that's what Percy did.

It's okay Percy. You can dicuss broomstick regulations with me...



Oh Kreacher. If Dobby had to die, you're the one I'd chose to succeed him. I cheered when Kreacher came to the battle of Hogwarts and led the House Elves. I actually was really hoping that he was the one on Harry's back on the British cover, but it was just a boring goblin. I wish there had been more Kreacher. But it was great when he hit Mundungus with the saucepan.



You go, Molly Weasley. Nuff said.














All in all the battle for Hogwarts was epic. I loved seeing the teachers kick serious butt and having the castle itself fight.

As for Harry, he'll never be my favorite character, but I respect him now, more than I have since Phoenix, and I like how his character turned out. I mean, dude, he Expelliarmused Voldemort and won. That's friggin awesome.

The End

"All was well"? I dunno. I can't like that last line. I feel like I'm being hit over the head with a big fluffy bunny. I think a slight tweaking of the line before it would have been better than adding "All was well." Maybe I'm just cynical, but I can't believe a world where all is well forever. Besides, in an interview, Rowling said Ron and Harry were aurors. What's the point of aurors if "all is well?" What are they doing? Issuing apparation violation tickets? They can hardly judge Percy if that's the case.

Plus, why didn't Rowling talk about their professions in the epilogue? It's not like it would have weighed it down. The whole epilogue's already extraneous.

And Albus Severus Potter? Someone's going to get beat up at school.

Overall and Final Impression

I'm sorry to those who like numbers, but I can't give this book a ranking out of ten. It would feel fake because I'd only give the same rating to something that didn't deserve it or did but for entirely different reasons. In the end, the number means nothing. But if it helps, here are my favorite books in order of most to least favorite now that they're all out. Of course, this is also subject to change over time but this is them at the moment:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

As I said, I take things as a whole, and on a whole, I've loved this series. The last book wasn't enough of a disappointment to change that. That sounds like a really negative way to put it. I can't gush over it as much as some of the other fans, but it is worthy of finishing the series. And that, just between you and me, is saying a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, that's all folks. At least, I could say more, but I don't want the review to be as long as the book. I'd love to hear what all of you think, though! Tell me in the comments or in an email. If you don't feel like going into detail, maybe you could at least list the books in order of your preference like I did. Thanks for reading!

R.I.P Hedwig