Yay, presents!

I turned 18 yesterday. :)

I share my birthday from many famous people. Jessica Alba, Terry Pratchett, Harper Lee ... Saddam Hussein. Yup, famous people.

And Ee Won! Happy birthday dear! :D

So here's the photodump of stuff I got. And that's my new laptop, under all the stuff! Still haven't named it. It's awesome, got webcam and everything. I love it. xD

Bracelet from Hanna. :)

The necklace also from Hanna. Purse from Maktuk.

Swimming dog in the mouse Mira gave me. Haha.

Baby Phat watch from Mama (It's GORGEOUS.) and a 'newton's cradle' from Nazim. I love the cradle thing, I've always wanted one. Hee.

The day went by very normally. Went to MPH warehouse sale, bought 6 books. Started reading Soul Music by Terry Pratchett yesterday (I think it's awesome that I share a birthday with this guy. He's awesome.). Hilarious.

After that was supposed to go to Pyramid with ze Collegers, but then Mr. Zul (my driving teacher) called and said that my Wednesday class has to be cancelled, so he moved it to Tuesday. I said OK, since that I have to pass my QTI test this week if I'm going to get to take the JPJ exam in the second week of May. So yeah. I passed my hill, parking and turn test, but failed the road test. So I have to take it again, by this week. Grarr. Engine died twice. Felt like an idiot.

At night, ate at Cozy Corner with the rest of the fam. Then went to the DVD store and bought a copy of The Secret Life of Bees. I'm only halfway through my assignment, 'cause I couldn't remember any of the 'verbal and non-verbal messages' I'm supposed to note down. Also bought Aristocats, because I was feeling nostalgic. Asked for Beauty and the Beast, but they don't have it. Haha.

Ooh and today, I went to the college to see if the computers there could access Malaysiakini. Turns out they can't. But I did my ECS journal essays instead. Then met Hamizah for lunch. It's so good to see her. <3>

Interpersonal communication

My computer is fixed!

No more baby elephant computer monitor! Now it's a sleek flat screen.
I shall call it ... um. Shelly. Because it's flat like those strange discy shell things you find washed up on the beach.
Strange logic, but I just like the name Shelly.

So, I've been incredibly busy this week. Haha. What with college kicking off properly, I never really felt the absence of my baby elephant.

So. College is fun ... seriously. Of course nothing much has started and we've not much work so far ... but my classmates are fun to hang around with. In fact, we went to Sunway Pyramid on Wednesday ... had lunch at Delifrance. It's amazing how many discounts you can get with a student card. Had a very filling meal. John managed to save us from paying extra because of a technical error on the bill. Pening kepala over getting people to give in the right amount of change. Our tax came to RM12, it was insane.

Then we went ice-skating. I went back early so I didn't get to join them bowling. But I still had a blast ... haven't been skating in years!

Photo yanked from Carmen's blog.
So these are a few of us ... the ones who went skating anyway. A lot of people didn't go skating. xD No matter how much we tried to pujuk them. Anyway, left to right, Nigel, me, Suzuki, Azhar, John, Carmen, Fira and Joan. No, Nigel's not taking foundation with us, he just popped in to enjoy the skating. :P

Notice the blue gloves? I got a pair myself ... and I like them loads more than the ones I got years ago. They're cute! xD But I think the orange ones are nicer ... Michelle S. had an orange pair, really nice colour.

Also, I learnt how to skate backwards! It's all about shaking your butt. Yeah. O_o A bit awkward at first but got the hang of it. Kinda reversed into someone who was tying her boot on the ice-rink (no I have no idea why she is tying her boot on the ice rink) and fell on my butt. Which ached when I got up in the morning. xD

Regretting not bringing my camera. I could have taken photos of everyone. Argh!

On Thursday, went out with Nad, Aidil and Sophie. We were very hungry. xD I dunno why, we just had huge appetites that day. Sneaked hot dogs into the cinema, where we watched Talentime. The cinema was very empty. Sophie was blur during the dramatic scenes and spoiled the moment. Hahah. And we kept commenting on how the school students had no name tags and stuff. I think we annoyed all the other people in the hall.

Anyway, the movie was quite nice. Almost cried once. xD But the scene changes were kinda choppy and the ending ... potong steam. Yeah. But overall, not bad.

Going to watch the Cats musical tomorrow! Can't wait! :D

Year 2008

Well, since that I won't be around for the New Year, I'm making my NY post now. A list of bests and worsts, along with a summary of how the year treated me. :)

SPM - Meh. I'll just say what I've been telling countless relatives and friends of the family for the past month: "It was OK". I didn't feel like dying, but it wasn't the most awesome thing in the world. What can I say? Glad it's over.

School - Haha ... Ko-ku wise, it was pretty good. I finally got that certificate I've been working for the past 5 years. I got some good posts, good certs to back-up my future education and some good experience. Working in HU for Pn. A was horrendous, but I guess I learned something: Paperwork sucks worse than actually getting people to do things so that I'll have paperwork to begin with. xD

Class-wise, frankly, kinda sucked. xD A lot of little quarrels, and by the end of the year, everyone was tense. Overall, it was bearable. The teachers' nagging was the worst. Drove me around the bend. I'm glad that's over with. But I'll miss you guys. :( Ya'll knew how to have fun.

Social - GAH MY FRIENDS ARE AWESOME. BEAR HUG, EVERYONE! *glomps* And also, to my juniors for being cool; proud of you guys. Keep rocking that school. Carry out the pranks and hijinks that I never had the chance to do. Don't tell Pn. M I put you guys up to it. ;)

World Events - Some good, some bad. Some ridiculous. But this is the world, we're talking about. We're all crazy. Yeah. Persoanlly, I've been pretty sick of some of the stuff that kept popping up in the newspapers this year. xD

Now, for the stuff I've enjoyed, whether or not it was released this year, or a century ago:
Movie - Dark Knight. Wowee it was awesome.
TV Show - Friends. I crack a rib laughing.
Cartoon/Anime - Avatar: The Legend of Aang. I've never felt this much love for a cartoon before.
Singer - I don't have favourites.
Band - Fall Out Boy. Still love their songs.
Book - Pendragon: Raven Rise. Had to think a lot about this. But yeah, that book was awesome. The ending especially.
Character - Prince Zuko. Please, don't make him Jesse McCartney. He's too badass! D:
Song(s) - The Man Who Can't Be Moved (The Script), Love Story (Taylor Swift), What A Catch, Donnie (Fall Out Boy)

And now, for the worst (or least liked):
Movie - Over Her Dead Body. Seriously. I actually thought of all the books I could be studying while watching it. It was boring.
TV Show - 90210. Blech. They can't act.
Cartoon/Anime - Most of the crap on Cartoon Network.
Singer - Hmm. Soulja Boi. I hate his music with a passion rivalling the ardent love of a thousand Romeos and Juliets.
Band - Hmm. None.
Book - Eh, Darren Shan's books. I just don't feel it.
Character - Heh. Bella. No offence, peoples. I just really don't like her.
Song(s) - That one Soulja Boi song. And anything by Sean Kingston. xP

Special Mention - Goes to the Twilight series. Neither in the worst or best, it gave me the most entertainment this year. What a ride. xD

Here's a special category, What I would dress up as at a costume party after going through the year 2008: Sabriel, from the Old Kingdom trilogy. Makes me wish there really was a costume party going on, so I could dress up for it. xD

Summary - A good year, once all is said and done. I had fun. Learnt some stuff about myself. Learnt some stuff about people around me. I have great friends, and a good end to high school life. I'll miss everyone from school. We'll see each other in March when the results come out. ;) This was also the year that Tarsha talked me into watching anime. Thanks, man. I'm still iffy about most of the styles, but you helped me open my mind a bit.

I had more to say, but I can't remember. xD So. Here's to an even better year, 2009.

Klaklakakalatu

Bought Creature In The Case by Garth Nix. A sort of short book (for World Book Day) about how Nick Sayre ends up going back to the Old Kingdom after the events in Abhorsen. SPOILERS onwards. Just for the next paragraph.

Anyway, he meets Lirael in the very last few pages of the book, and she saves his life. And well ... who else thinks that they would make a great couple together? Nick seems to really care for her, and the way he kept re-reading her letter to him in the book made me ... well, get inclinations, so to speak. I mean, I toyed with the idea back when I started reading the Lirael book, when we first meet Sam and Nick. And the way she keeps tumbling over her words at the end of the Creature etc. book while talking to him made me want more. Dang it, Garth Nix! You write endings like beginnings! And you don't tell us what happens next! GRARR. But then again, maybe that's why your books are so good in the first place.

I hope he's writing a sequel. I hopehopehopehope. Other Old Kingdom readers out there, what do you think?

In other news, spent past few days having fun outside home. Slept at Nad's house on Friday, which was awesome. Watched a couple movies, slept at 3.30 in the morning then went swimming. Watched The Day The Earth Stood Still (which was pretty boring) with Acu and Mira. Then slept over at Ara, my grandparents' house.

Watched My Sassy Girl for the 2nd time (first at Nad's) which is this really cute romance that made me cry. Seriously. It's sweet. A little sad. Based on a Korean movie, but due to my complete obliviousness to all things Korean and Japanese, I know nothing about it. IMDb seems to hate it because of it being yet another Hollywood adaptation, but personally, I found it very sweet. I could watch it forever, I wouldn't mind. :)

Also watched Pride and Prejudice for like, the 5th time. The Keira Knightley one. I never get tired of it.

Then this morning, I woke up with rashes. D: Which is really weird. My whole body is covered with them. Itches like crazy, so Acu gave me some cream for it. It's sort of similar to something I had back in Form 1. It'll go away in a few days, but for the meantime, it's really annoying. Mama thinks its a bug-bite. Some sort of small mite creature.

Prom's tomorrow. Hope it doesn't itch so bad then.

Also went to Taylor's College open day, for their PJ campus. I really really like their course structure for Mass Comm. I can't think of anywhere else (not many diploma courses ... lots of foundation mostly) and I can only think of UiTM. But Atuk rathers that I not go there 'cause ... well, he's got reasons.

I'm pretty set on Taylor's at the mo though. But I'll be sending in my application after NS, so I have some time to think.

Reset, reset!

Avatar Casting - First Look

All I can say is, are you kidding me???
Jesse McCartney???
Dear God.
If this is true and not some rumour-twisted joke, he better be a bloody good actor.
Or else I don't think I could enjoy this.
Zuko's one of my favourite characters, you CAN'T SPOIL IT FOR MEEEE.
D:

*hopes it's not true*

Ps. I'm OK with the other people. Although I really was wishing they'd get ... y'know ... non-white people.

Do I Dazzle Thee? Yeth? Noth?

So, the post-SPM outing was awesome. Super duper awesome. 11 of us. We nearly took up the entire row.

So. Twilight. The movie.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "watch if you're intent on going through a few brainwashing therapy sessions" and 10 being "SO AWESOME, WATCH IT EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE", I rate it a 4.

SPOILERS, btw.

Because really, I'll be honest and say that I had a lot more faith in the movie than the book series (all faith in them flew out the window when I reached Bella's emo session in New Moon) so yeah ... Not that great. xD Before I continue, I remind everyone that this is my opinion. You can all have yours. IMDb, for example, has reviews ranging from the 1 to 10 I was talking about in the previous paragraph. :)

Anyway. Here's the score:

Plot: Actually, a remarkable lot better than the book, which made me want to die, with all the bombastic words. Listen, I take forever to get through Jane Austen. Anything like it, or trying to be like it? My system can't take it. xD So, 7/10.

Characters: Eh. What can I say? Bella's loads nicer here than in the book. The schoolboys are adorable, makes me want to run in there and high five all of them. Carlisle was just how I imagined him. And Charlie? Best damn character in the entire movie. And I found Jasper cute. I liked the whole "... the one who looks like he's in pain is Jasper. [pan to Jasper's semi-constipated face]" Now, the ... person everyone has been waiting for. Bring out Mr. Eddy Currents please!
Oh wait, that's Physics. My bad. SPM still leaving traces. So yeah. Edward is ... Edward. The look of constant constipation on his face was amusing though. And when he sucked on Bella's arm ... reminded me of Scout when he's trying to gnaw my toes off in one of his hyper kitten moods. xD 5/10.

Soundtrack: AWESOMESAUCE. Ridiculously lovely. Loved Edward's lullaby. Need to download arisiiinnggg ... 9/10

Story Flow: Blegh. Felt like dying whenever Bella and Edward started getting romantic. So slow. I actually had time to have a full conversation with Tarsha beside me during one of their intense stare into each other's eyes fests. 4/10.

Special Effects: Not bad. Pretty obvious how they did it, but still cool. Loved the climax scene with the ballet studio. I was flinching in pain with every kick, crunch of bone and howl of pain. Fuuun. But the sparkly bit? Quite ... strange. In my imagination, every time Edward sparkled in the book, all I saw was a great, shining white blob emitting disco lights. So you understand how seeing it for real kinda confused my brain. D: But he looked like he was dipped in glitter. 5/10.

Lines: Some funny, some neutral, some ridiculously cheesy. But I really liked the whole
Bella: I want answers.
Edward: Yes. No. To get to the other side.
Please, other people who were with me ... why was I the only one laughing? That was the best line in the entire film. I loved it. I was giddy with glee. xD

So, there you go. There were more nice parts to balance out the boring ones though. So that was alright. And the setting was gorgeous. Bloody cold-looking, but gorgeous.

That's it for now. Going to Bandung tomorrow. See ya'll in half a week. :)

Royal drama.

Our new kitten, Scout. Name is subject to change at the moment ... some of us *glances at other family members* are torn between Doctor and Che Det. Yes, Che Det, as in Dr. M's nickname. xD You can put the credit for that idea on Nazim, who just read that new Dr. M biography comic and seems to have proclaimed him his new idol.

In other news, the fam and I are going to watch the Mamma Mia! Musical in December. Papa's always liked ABBA and the new movie seems to be a catalyst to the rebirth of his sudden want to watch the musical. So, yay! I spent my childhood lisetning to them on the radio, so alright.

I watched this ^ yesterday. Completely historically inaccurate, but hey, it's entertainment, and it sure does entertain. SPOILERS coming up, so if you'd rather watch it for yourself, hit the Back button, now. Anyhoo, the story centers around two sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn. Mary is married, and pretty much a good, honset person. Anne on the other hand has been given the challenge of wooing King Henry VIII, in order to glorify the family's name. But the King instead falls for Mary, leaving Anne feeling more than a little betrayed by her sister. Due to a secret marriage with one Henry Percy, Anne is banished to France to wait on the Queen there, since that Mr. Percy is engaged to somebody else.

Meanwhile, Mary becomes the King's mistress, and soon she becomes pregnant, later confined to her bed. Around this time, Anne returns, having learned a thing or two from the French; the King is fascinated by her changed self, and decides to go after her, if you get my meaning. But Anne has plans ... she won't give in to him, she says, because that would be betraying her sister. But the King wouldn't rest, and on the very day Mary gives birth to a son, he promises Anne to never speak to Mary again. Anne, triumphant, sends a betrayed Mary back to the counrty with her newborn baby boy.

Anne continues to play with the King's affections, asking for more and more. The King breaks ties with the Roman Catholic Church for her, just so he can annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon (or was it Katherine?). This makes him very angry, what with everything crashing down about him. In a fit of rage, he ends up raping Anne (yes, you read right) just before they get married. Oh, and around this point Anne and Mary have forgiven each other and are now together again. Anne becomes pregnant, but gives birth to a baby girl. The King isn't at all pleased, what with his wanting a son. Anne, frightened by the disastrous results of her scheming, falls pregnant again; and miscarriages.

This is the part where I started going "WTFISH D:" a lot. Anne, desperate for a son and scared of informing Henry of the loss of their baby decides to get pregnant again - by her brother George Boleyn (played by Jim Sturgess, who is cute in a puppy-faced sorta way, whee.). Mary, who was probably WTFISHing as much as I was decides to run away (good for her). The thing is, George's wife Jane sees them about to commit the act, and she runs off to tell Henry. In the end, George is executed (it was horrifying. They chopped his head off. And he made this horrible little squeal just before the axe fell. Doesn't help that I think he's too cute to die.) and Anne confesses to Mary (yeah, she came back hoping to save her siblings' skins) that they never commited incest - George couldn't do it (well no duh, man, you're his frickin' sister.). But no amount of begging from Mary could change Henry's mind, and Anne too was executed. Mary later moved to the country with Anne's daughter Elizabeth, where she married Stafford (some guy who worked for her father ... he's sweet.) and basically lived happily ever after THE END.

Phew. So, royal drama like whoa. Like I said, historically inaccurate, but entertaining. Loved the costumes. Made me itch to find a reference so I can draw some pretty dresses. And the acting was alright, although Scarlett Johansen's face annoyed me a bit what with her constant expression of "Oh ... ohh, that's not good. :(". Natalie Portman pulled off Anne's downfall convincingly, you could really see where she started goign a bit cuckoo with the whole "I can't produce a son, I'm so SCREWED! I know, I'll get my brother to impregnate me, then nobody ahs to know I miscarriaged!" scenario.

But just as a note, read a few history articles before discussing the movie with anyone else. I'm lookin' at the IMDb forums, and lots of people are frustrated by the inaccuracy. I don't mind myself ... it's just good television. Speaking of which, I've gotten an urge to watch The Tudors (British t.v. show about ... well, the Tudors, duh.) now ... anyone know where I can find the episodes? :D

Yes, two reasons.

Updating is now not constant for two reasons:

1) Trials. Duh.
2) My computer got taken over by a Trojan Horse pretending to be an Antivirus. It is both very annoying and quite amusing - y'know, to what lengths these people go to make our lives miserable.

Oh, and I watched WALL-E, which was quite nice, but not exactly that awesome. Then I watched Clone Wars because Nazim wanted to. It was NOT awesome. Then bought a Hancock DVD. And y'know, I was pleasantly surprised. It was quite good.

And, I'm reading Breaking Dawn. No offence to you loyal fans, but I laughed every time Bella cried. And the birthing scene was horrifying. And Jacob's imprinting makes me unhappy. :(

Here, have a drawing. Drew her days ago. 'Tis Reina, from my Dime Trap story. She's the one with the aeroplane. Whee.

Star-gazing, whoooo.

The sibs and I are staying over at our grandparents' place, so we ended up watching Star Wars in Acu's room till midnight. So, we're giggling around and making jokes about Luke's eyes talking (Love me, Daddy!!! There's still GOOD in youuuuu!) and why Mira and I never noticed that Han Solo has a senget smile:

Me: Dude, we're supposed to notice when guys have senget smiles. Y'know, 'cause it's hot [senget smiles].
Mira: Yeah ... and ... Han Solo is handsome.
Me: Not hot.
Mira: Yeah. Dunno why.
Me: Maybe it's because we know that Harrison Ford is like ... past 60.
Mira: Yeah, that's why.

Then, when commenting on Leia's 'outfit' while the scenes with Jabba the Hut:

Acu: Wow, the princess sure is showing off LOT.
Me: Hmmm. Well ... they're in the desert. It's ... hot? :'D
Acu: But Luke is wearing black. That should be even hotter!
Me: But he's got the Force.
Mira: His own air-cond blowing around inside his baju!
Me: Yeeeaaaaahh. Learning the Force is a package deal.

Then, randomly later while watching Darth Vader ...

Mira: I wonder how he goes to the toilet.
Me: He's a machine. I don't think he goes to the toilet. Or eat, for that matter.
Mira: But still.
Me: Well, he' one with the Force. Magical pee-holding Force?
Mira: Or, he's just got a bag down there to catch everything.
Both of us: *crack up*

During the plane-shooting scene:

Mira: What is that thing? [one of the aliens]
Me: Looks like a ... fish.
Nazim: It's shaped like a sotong.
Me: Well then. Sotong fish.
Mira: I bet they just smooshed them both together.

And, at the very very end, where everyone's celebrating, and you can see the ghosts of the three Jedis who died?

Me: Hey look! It's Obi-Wan ... and Yoda ... and ... HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN??!
Acu: WHAT.
Me: There!
Acu and Mira: Whaaaaat, Hayden Christensen?? :
Me: What the fish? What's he doing there?
Hayden Christensen in movie: *continues to smile happily*
The rest of us: :O
Mira: I feel sorry for the old actor guy who played Anakin in this first trilogy.

So yes, people. Buy the new Star Wars box set! You'll get a random Hayden Christensen cameo. Yup. I'm still not over the weirdness.

Too baaaad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATUK!

and
HAPPY SWEET 16th SOFEYA!

Firstly, regarding the WB decision in moving the HBP movie to July next year: WTFish, people. WTFish. You're all a bunch of greedy no-good wingdings. If the movie's good, even if you release it on the coldest winter night, it'll top the box office. So what if the writer's strike killed a few things? All the other movies and tv shows pulled through OK. Heck, 2008 is a pretty good movie year in my opinion. I can sense your fear! I bet you guys think the film sucks. Well too bad. >:(

Secondly, hey guys, SA now gives you your homework online! Yippie-kay-yay. *waves white flag miserably*

Oh, I borrowed Breaking Dawn from Sab. It was a very spur-of-the-moment thing; she happened to have the book, but Tarsha was absent, so couln't pass to her. So I took it instead. Haven't read it yet. I just don't have the mood. :(

By the way, I finished reading Nightrise a few days ago. SPOILERS ahead. I thought it was really good. :) My favourite of the series so far. The story starts off a few weeks before the ending of the second book, with Scott and Jamie Tyler instead of the protagonist of the first two books, Matt Freeman. They both have powers; they can read minds, and they've got the whole Jedi-mindtrick deal going on. xD

Anyway, Scott gets kidnapped by the Nightrise Corporation, a company that supports the return of the Old Ones (basically, the evil bad guys). Jamie, lost and confused, ends up getting help from Alice McGuire, a woman who's searching for her son Danny, who was also kidnapped by the company. Horowitz's writing is simple, but effective; I can see everything clearly in my mind. Very good stuff. And the plot is finally starting to come together, giving us a clear picture of just what exactly is happening in this series.

So far, Jamie is my favourite of the Five; Matt is too much of a classic hero for me, and Pedro comes in second. We don't see too much of Scott from the book, but he comes off as the troubled one of the group, if you ask me. The fifth one, the girl, is Scarlett ... but I'm not sure whether I'll like her yet, because we've only met her 'past self'. And the indication is that she might turn out to be the one who does an anti-hero ... but I won't know till the next book, coming out in October.

Oddity of Ends

I post too slow, I think. So many eventful things in life, so little blog posts! I didn't even talk about My Epic Weekend. So I will, just 'cause it was the most epic fun I've had in terms of fangirling. First, I watched Dark Knight (cue "Oooh" sound). Then, I finished reading Pendragon: Raven Rise (cue "Aaah" sound). Then, I went online, still reeling from the awesome and shock that was the book, only to find that the Avatar: The Legend of Aang finale had already shown in the US and had been posted online (cue whistles and applause). It was the best cartoon finale I've ever watched in EVER.

Seriously, it was like an overdose of Good Stuff. I was high for most of the weekend and Monday. It was so good, my dreams consisted of me being a Traveler from the Pendragon books, having to hide away some secret book. Most of the dream consisted of me actually able to make decisions, as if I was awake. Shasha was in my dream. xD And Loor, from the Pendragon books. Grampa dude from the Ben10 cartoon was there. And River Phoenix, dressed up as he was in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. Georgina from Gossip Girl made an appearance (she was in kahoots with the evil bad guy, who was Saint Dane - also from the Pendragon books). And ... I could've sworn Prince Zuko was somewhere lurking in the background. Can't be too sure. Oh, and the rock used in last year's drama team was essential to our secret mission. Then there was a nightclub, and Pn. Alainal. O_o Yes. That was the weirdest part, actually. And there was dancing. Lots of dancing and neon lights.

One of the weirdest dreams ever. Even tops the one I had two years ago about Batman and Borders (the book store) and the mysterious "Jagged S".

Wow, typing all this out has made me feel loads better. :) Because there were some events of this morning that managed to kick my spirit around again. Seriously, I have to give it a tougher skin.

Hear that? Tougher skin. Which is exactly the reason why I was miserable. Or rather, the lack of it developing. Making no sense? This is intentional. Remember Wormtail? From Harry Potter? Yeah. He wasn't a very nice guy. :( I feel sorry for Sirius, James and Lupin. Poor things. They were like BFFs, but now they're BFFs - 1.

Or, they're nothing at all, 'cause they're dead. Because JK Rowling killed 'em all.

Ouch. Tragic.

The last suit you'll ever wear ...

Nope, not this one.
Our first and last day in turqoise.
Maroonies In Blue
MIB
Yes, lame, I know. xD
Not everyone's here, which is sad. :(

But really, following the trend of Men In Black, Maroon really is the last suit we'll ever wear, high-school wise. But we had fun in blue anyway, just for one day. It was awesome; everyone blended perfectly into the background. And recess resulted in all of us scurrying over to Block D and standing anyway. Old habits die hard.

In book-news, I am starting the penultimate Pendragon book. Penultimate means the one before the last one. I can't believe it's ending. A lot of stuff is ending ... but that could just be my feelings towards graduating. Hmm.

Prince, whoops, King Caspian.

If you're lucky, you get to set your eyes on a sequel that doesn't suck. But it's rare to find a sequel that doesn't only 'not suck', but rocks like an avalanche.

Yeah, well I'll be the geek and say that I'm talking about Prince Caspian. Spoiler alert, peeps!

Storyline was awesome. Adapting one of the world's best classics is definitely a challenge, but they've really done it this time around. Of course, some things were twisted, others removed and some new stuff was thrown in, but they complimented this film perfectly. It's got it's fair share of action, humour and even a dash of romance.

Visual effects? Amazing. I remember years ago, when I reviewed the first movie, I complained that I could see a black outline around the Pevensies when they were standing against the sky. None of that this time around, though. I particularly liked the battle scenes, and the one with the griffins swooping around the Telmarines' castle while carrying the kings and queens.

And the soundtrack? Very awesome. I'm downloading as soon as I find the time. xD

Now, the part we've all (or just me) have been waiting for; character development. This is my favourite part of every film, book or cartoon. Prince Caspian was alright - classic hero, somewhat confused but manages to pull things off very well. Not the fanciest of characters, but likable enough. Added to the fact that he's not bad on the eyes.

They changed a lot of Peter's character for this movie, and while many people seem to dislike it (I visited IMDb before hopping over here) I think it was a good take on him; very realistic, and I could connect with him, compared to LionWitchWardrobe!Peter. He had a lot of room to grow, and I think it ended very well for him.

Susan, ah, Susan. Firstly, she's got amazing eyes. Like, mesmerising. You could get sucked into those eyes. xD I like her here better than the first movie as well. Less bossy and more of a heroine.

And since that I am going in order and it would be, urm, wrong to do ... OK, whatever, I don't want to explain myself. xD Edmund now. He. Rocks. Can I say that again? He. Rocks. My purple-yellow striped socks. Doesn't matter that he doesn't have much screen-time. The scene with the white witch? Pure awesome. Caspian and Peter were all like: "D: Purdy lady wants blood!" And Edmund's all: "*stab* *pause* *glares at older boys* Yeah, you had it sorted. *exits stage right*" Oh, Edmund. You deserve more screen-time.

As for Lucy ... well, she's pretty much the same, now I think about it. There's not much development for her. She's still the youngest and adorable one. She's still misunderstood by the others (Peter and Susan in particular) and she still makes friends with Narnian creatures.

So, yes. I've forgotten what I wanted to say. But I can't put any other feelings in words ... but anybody who talks to me face-to-face will be recieving a huge load of jabbering, following the style of the dialogue I typed up there about the White Witch thingy. xD

Onwards to battle, ladies and gentlemen ...

"No moshing"?

Well so much for that warning.
I'm pretty glad nobody smoked inside the hall myself. :D

So yes. BotB. Never been to one before, today was my first. First thing I noticed upon setting foot on school grounds: everyone (nearly everyone) was wearing black. WTFish, people. xD I know black makes you look slim and all, but it stops oozing the cool factor when everyone wears it.

I was wearing red myself. Nad's tuition-buddy Andrew was wearing red too, so we were red-buddies. Speaking of which, yes, Nad, your tuition-buddies are indeed awesome cool people. :D

Anyway, the overall thing was OK - the weirded sound system killed it a little for me ... we could hear the guitars and drums, but could barely make out the lead singers. Kinda disappointing. And no moshing? No fun, if you ask me. I've never moshed before, but heck, it looks like fun.

Looks like fun, Sara? Hang a second, what happened to the 'no moshing' rule? Well ... it got scrapped. xD Basically, it started with these two guys dancing like crazed idiots in front of the stage. Then there were three. Three bands later, there was a small group, crashing into each other like water molecules (science-reference, whee). Then there was a bigger group, doing the can-can together.

Apparently, they got 'escorted out'. Poor things.

After the 'ten-minute break', things went wild. When the band started playing (can't remember which one it was) a whole group of guys leaped up and started to dance; I was at the very edge of the crowd, and it was bedlam, I tell you. More people started crashing into the makeshift mosh pit, and people were bouncing off each other, there were cameras flashing, people screaming, and the band howling away in the background. One dude got on a chair and started waving his guitar over the crowd's heads. Then one guy started crowd-surfing. A second guy followed him, and he tumbled off at one point, poor dude. He looked like he was gonna pee his pants.

It was the wackiest piece of fun I've ever seen in my life. I told everything to Acu (it's her birthday btw ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACU!) and she laughed and said that the moshing sounded like something out of a comedy movie.

Well, comedy's gotta come from somewhere, and I'm sure most scriptwriters are inspired by real life. I can see clearly now! *dramatic music*

Ps. Don't speak of Narnia: Prince Caspian to me. I can't watch until the holidays. Dx
Ps2. I just watched all existing episodes of Gossip Girl. All I can say is: *incoherent squeaks and blabbering*
Ps3. I am a weak human being who read the Avatar spoilers. D:

They're not as deathly pale as I had expected ...

The school

Became a wading pool
As the rain beat down
On our busy town.

Word.

The drains were overflowing and people were running in the rain screaming. It rained again today, but not as heavy. I was hoping for some mandi hujan time, but oh well. We had drama practice outside the gallery since that it was full of: cheerleaders, taekwando people, random spectators and chairs.

The chairs took up the most space.

It was a mess. The practice I mean, not the chairs. Julia came over to help since that she's teaching the Form 1 and Form 2s (hee, she's a teacher xD). But Aidil and Bani were missing. We found Aidil wandering around looking worried 'cause her cousin (who's helping us out too) hadn't arrived and Bani was nowhere to be found. I found her an hour later in the canteen - she forgot about practice. ^^;

Aidil's cousin arrived with 14 minutes to go till most of us had to go home. There was a lot of arm-waving. I became quite confused. My body wouldn't listen to my brain, then my brain got fed up and gave up telling my limbs what to do.

It feels like a strange blur now. The only thing working was my mouth.

In other news:

Guess who?

Note to self: In future, do not check on movie/book/comic/tv show/cartoon news immediately after dinner. Suffocation due to lack of oxygen caused by fangirlish excitement may occur.

EDIT: Deathly Hallows is gonna be split in two movies!? I am so behind the times. This is very cool news. Prolong the Harry Potter mania plzkthx.

New things

I have a new CPU! It's all black and new, and it hums. <3 Unlike the old CPU, which growled like some small dog when I switched it on. This one hums. Thanks muchly, Uncle James.

It's way faster now too. Everything is easier to load! I celebrated by watching Watership Down on YouTube. Makes me want to re-read the book. The movie is very pretty animation-wise, but it went too slow. I got restless.

Ooh, I want to see if I can watch Land Before Time. I'm on a childhood movies kick.

In other news, school starts tomorrow.

Dang it.

Sara-who'll-miss-the-hols

Fluffy emo cartoon hair

I've watched half of The Jane Austen Book Club on Acu's laptop last night. Had to stop because Papa wanted to go home. But so far, I just have to say that Hugh Dancy is oh so adorable. And hot. Yesss. His character in the movie has an R2-D2 ringtone. Hahaha, he's so geeky.

Went to OU with the fam this morning. Hung around MPH for a long time, since that all of us are readers: Papa went for the comic section, Mama went to look at the magazines and cooking books, and Nazim and Hanna hung out at different parts of the children's section. Mira and I went to the young adults' section.

So, I was hanging around the adventure/mystery shelves, and there was this boy sitting on the floor reading a book. And he had fluffy cartoon emo hair. xD
So I walk down the aisle towards where he was sitting and looked at the books on the shelf opposite him. Then, out of curiousity, I looked down, wondering what he was reading.

First I saw the edges of a black and blood-red cover. Then the words ... and I'm pretty sure I was still as a statue by now, because I just realised that he was reading Eclipse. xD I was like, whoa. He's reading Eclipse, lol. I thought it was funny.

Anyway, as a celebration of the beginning of the holidays, I drew Bobby Pendragon of the Pendragon book series. He was fun to colour. :D

Bobby Pendragon (c) D.J. MacHale
Art (c) me.

Sara-who-is-still-waiting-for-new-Avatar-episodes

Many tags today.

Random celeb-bit: James McAvoy's next film has him co-starring with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in Wanted.

That guy is on a ROLL!

In vaguely related news, I have decided to add another career option to my list of things I don't want to be when I grow up. Following doctor on the list which I haven't updated since I was seven, I now never want to be a casting director. Or anything related to sitting through auditions. I am a weak and flimsy person who cracks under pressure. D:

Now some sentences thrown together: Drama still chewing on my liver. Tuition took a shorter time than usual. Funny bones are humerous, but I'm the only one laughing. Holding on to people is mind-numbingly frustrating at times. I want new Avatar episodes. The month of march has me marching.

Sara-who's-speaking-in-short-sentences

A tiny dose of Disney animation.

Which, I might add, I have sorely missed over the last few years. I watched Enchanted on Tuesday with Nad, and well, I feel that I owe it a review (or at least something vaguely resembling one). So, spoilers ahead, for anyone who hasn't watched it yet.

Enchanted's something that you shouldn't bring logic to. Or your hatred of fluffy baby animals. Or any hatred for Disney-theatrics for that matter. Because the movie is entirely made up of pure, fluffy, feel-good FUN. The cartoon bit at the beginning had me in stitches, what with Giselle's singing and Prince Edward's marriage proposal.

My favourite part is definitely the scene in the park, with everyone singing and dancing the same time Prince Edward was running around looking for Giselle. ^^ Ooh, and the chipmunk, Pip - I expected him to be annoying, but he was the funniest thing about the entire movie!

The ending was definitely an ending. Everything was tied up neatly with a bright red bow. Giselle ends up with Robert (kinda expected really) and Prince Edward brings Nancy back into fairy-tale cartoon land (they're the cutest couple. xD).

Spoilers end here. I realised that I don't have much to review. ^^;

In other life-stuff, I bought The Runner by Cynthia Voigt from MPH. I've been wanting it for a while, but did you know that it costs RM32 in Borders ... and only RM19 in MPH? Scandalous.

Yeay-I-got-a-new-book-Sara