while they did live happily ever after

i live! and lovie lives with me! these are all excellent things. like my job! but i will say nothing further about that for now. for now i just have links[ys].

1) can anyone give me the name of a good Napoleon biography? I feel like if I am going to be an obsessive coup-de-foudre fangirl of his I can at least know aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the stories behind the heartache described in these kate beaton comics.

2) is it sad to say this changed my life? perhaps not changed, but threw it into startlingly beautiful perspective, if only for a moment. And I was content.

( excerpt, and mutterings )

3) Speaking of going back four-or-five years, someone on Facebook mentioned that Folk Choir is going to sing Biebl's Ave Maria, to which I scoffed a tiny bit because Folk Choir is good and all but this is not their kind of song, and also because freshman year of college I went to a ND-and-Michigan-Glee-Clubs concert, from which I discovered Guster due to the Michigan's-version-of-the-Undertones's cover of Mona Lisa (the only track I still have from the sadly lost CD). Anyway, they had the boys onstage and also in the balcony behind the stage, and the chant solo in the middle was sung from up there, and it was just--

( better described by freshman!Jade )

4) Speaking of college, or things I learned in college, or rather a lot of conversations I have been having recently about women in college and the like, or perhaps just feminism: Maureen Johnson on the whole "boys aren't reading!/don't have anything to read!" outcry (or, how a penis makes what you write suddenly interesting to the populace at large).

5) New Glee! WHY IS MY FLIST NOT DISCUSSING THIS MORE. Please do not tell me I got into Glee just in time for everyone else to be bored and ditch it, because so much happened, and it was all pretty cool! *sob*

♥


EXTRA BONUS LIMITED-TIME-ONLY LINK: romanitas graciously agreed to un-flock this hilarious, almost Growing-Up-Cullen-esque Merlin...joke...parody...hilarious thing that she and her friend did. READ IT BEFORE SHE FLOCKS IT AGAIN.

1) I read Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, and I don't have nearly as much to say about it as I did about The Time Paradox. This is not to say I didn't enjoy it; I laughed at least once a page, because Colfer was playing fast and loose with hilarious dialogue and hilarious side characters and even point of view--often he would describe something with a particularly nice turn of phrase, and in the next line have the current POV character think something along the lines of if I'm saying things like that, I must be suffering from oxygen deprivation. The writing and the plot were much, much tighter than TP, like you could really feel his growth as a writer and the editor's steady hand working upon the novel.

That being said, it was almost too short; it felt, like A Conspiracy of Kings, as if we were being handed an incident full of important information that would unfold in the denouement, packaged within an entertaining adventure, letting us spend time with all of our favorite characters but really just setting the pieces for some grander showdown in the future. (Hint: All the even-numbered books in the series have involved Opal Koboi, and the next, allegedly final, book is going to be number 8, if you can imagine it.) I loved seeing Holly and JULIET yay Juliet and Butler and Mulch and Foaly (out of his element!) and Artemis again, and they were all wonderful, and at the end of the book I wanted--more. There were so many little things that still needed exploring--not that the book doesn't tie together, but rather that things are changing and we're stopped before everything really starts rushing to a head.

I do take issue with the fact that Artemis is allegedly celebrating his fifteenth birthday at the beginning of the story, because he was fifteen back in The Lost Colony. Of course, my dad pointed out to me that the target audience of this series is probably still 12-14-year-old boys, despite the fact that the series is ten years old and those of us who were twelve when we started reading are now twenty-two and still shipping Holly/Artemis like burning. And the series has grown up, too, though perhaps not as noticeably as say Harry Potter; the central themes in The Time Paradox were certainly older, perhaps in some ways too old for a fourteen-year-old to grasp; it's one thing to read about a character reflecting on personal change and growth and the choices you make to get there, and quite another to really have a grasp on how that's happened in your life. And the humor has gotten a bit more complex too (see: I-see-what-you-did-with-that-POV), even if Mulch is still around for the fart jokes.

Anyway, it was a fantastic little yarn, but mostly I am just impatient for the next one.

( SPOILERS )



2) I rewatched Music and Lyrics the other night, the cute little rom-com with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant that Malone and I started watching at home one night, got about thirty seconds into the music video, and stopped and waited until Mom was around to watch it with us. The whole theme of creation and music isn't as deep as the theme of creation and writing is in Stranger Than Fiction--this is a rom -com, after all--but what impressed me this time around was Hugh Grant's acting job. He is very...adult, in this film--he knows where he is in his life and he's comfortable with who he is and what he's doing, and I especially liked that he is a musician, and he shows it--in quiet little ways, like the way he sits down at the piano in his apartment or in the store, like it's something he's infinitely familiar with. And even though he's "just" a pop music star, he writes his own stuff--he knows how music works, knows how to put it together, and it's all just...there. I just...really liked his character, and thought he did an understatedly phenomenal job of playing it.



3) I started rewatching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon last night but stopped right before the final battle because I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it through without sobbing and because I needed to go to bed (woe, the adult schedule).

( musing on the movie )



4) I have started reading The Demon's Lexicon because the library had it (and the sequel), but I am apparently Not In the Mood. Partially because I am reading a book called The Wall of Fame and it contains some truly atrocious metaphors that ought to be taken behind the publishing house and shot repeatedly, and partially because I have trouble getting into "tough" characters like Nick, and mostly because reading about Nick and Alan makes me think about Felix and Mildmay and, well, Felix and Mildmay are a really, REALLY hard fictional brotherly relationship to beat. Like, nigh-impossible. Especially after Corambis and their exchange of brotherly affection. (FELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX MILDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY I JUST WANT YOU BOTH TO BE HAPPY FOREVER AND I FEEL LIKE IT IS OBTAINABLE AND THIS JUST OVERWHELMS ME WITH RELIEF, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO HARD.)

(yes, Jade just said she loved Felix. It--sometimes these things happen.)

( gems from aforementioned Atrocious Metaphor Book )




5) To end on a positive note: I made myself dinner and ate it and now am full of food! My fish is still alive! (His name is Ron, for those interested. My first dog was named Fred, and then one of my sisters got a gerbil and named it George, and our first betta fish was named Percy, and I think another gerbil was named Charlie, so...he is red and beautiful and I will post pictures.) My apartment is an utter mess! Ingrid Michaelson writes beautiful songs! Quark drew the picture that was in my head because she is awesome! crisium_rising writes THE MOST AMAZING Dragon Age fanfic ever! The libraries here have BOTH Virtu and Mirador (I literally gasped when I turned the corner and saw them both in their hardbacked glory on their shelf) AND they have lots of sartorias's novels (I brought home A Posse of Princesses and am.very excited about reading it! My books fit on the bookshelf! My apartment door locks! There are trees and mountains around!

Life is good. :-)

1) did anyone else actually love all three of the POTC movies? I mean, I'll admit the second one drags and the third one is ridiculously convoluted, but I love the ridiculous convolutedness, and the way the stories turn out, even though Norrington's problems all stemmed solely from the fact that the writers decided to screw him over. I just. Really love the canon.

2) apartment searching is the pits and we are going to be homeless and broke and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

3) I BEAT THE DWARVES, HELL YEAH, LOOK AT ME AND MY BADASS BROODMOTHER-KILLING SELF, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO why doesn't alistair love me yet OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

also like, dude, I played through the female city elf opening just for kicks, and dude, I was actually furious. Like, yelling at my computer screen, wanting to punch a pillow angry. So well-done, but ARGH.

also I love the fact that as an elf you can hate on humans all day long in the dialogue options. No human-curious Dalish elf for me! I KILLED AN ARL'S SON, BITCH.

(quark: and you were telling me about all the terrible things he's doing and I was like, oh God, I think--I think I freed him.)

4) why are custom mood themes so much effort. I don't waaaaaaaanna get a photobucket. That being said, my new layout/theme pleases me greatly. I just want to play "Part of Your World" on repeat and cry contemplate things.

5) All of the movies on TCM today are about, like, unrequited love and the crazy things women will do to overcome it. Thanks, TCM. Thanks a lot.

anyway, back to gathering up the nerve to call people. w-wish me luck?

Alternative Title: Gone to Ferelden, brb.

three days ago
Jade: Lo, Dragon Age Origins is on sale! I shall purchase it for under thirty dollars! jakia's fanfics will finally make sense to me! Praise the...Maker? Is that the deity in this game?

an hour later
Jade: Finally! It has loaded on my computer! ...what do you mean, I'm missing a DirectX file? What kind of deity is this Maker guy anyway?



( only good things can follow! )



( last time, we played canasta )


( so I've been here for seven and a half hours... )



( more recent quips )


omg this game. Runs so much better on her machine. But I don't even care. It is so good, and I am so happy it is in my life.

or, alternate title, Still Not the Graduation Post

anyway I have read some books since coming home! None of them are the books I meant to read. Some of them I read years and years ago (heading into that scary "ten years ago" category that is starting to take over my life), some of them were new to me! One was even a translation of a French YA fantasy novel. They were all weirdly similar, as you will see by the cut tags.

I have discovered that I have trouble picking books off the shelves in the library unless I know the author or have heard good things about the author. This multiplies times a thousand bazillion when I leave the YA section and head for the adult fiction section. (Also, the adult fiction section seems to have more disguised-cover romance novels than previously expected.) I hit the jackpot yesterday--the little itty bitty library near my house had both How to Ditch Your Fairy and Liar, which I have been looking for FOREVER. Now, if only one of the branches would get in some of Maureen Johnson's books...

Anyway, Books I Have Read This Summer, Possible Spoilers Ahead, I Will Try to Warn You

( Zel: Girl gets locked in tower )


( The Book of a Thousand Days: Princess and maidservant get locked in tower, people die )


( Quest for a Maid: Girl has manservant, princess and girl-turned-attendant spend lots of time in boats, people die )


( The Princetta: Princess and maidservant runs away, spends lots of time in a boat, people die )


( The Shining Company: Boy has manservant, boy becomes shieldbearer, more people die than in both previous books combined )


I did take a detour, as part of my I Will Get My History From Biographies quest, and read
( Notorious: Sometimes it is hard to be impartial when talking about Ingrid Bergman who makes everybody gaga )


I also got about forty pages into
( The Ruins of Gorlan: Somewhere in my high school notebooks there is a generic apprentice YA fantasy that I really ought to bring back to life )


phew that took a long time.

on my to-read list are the aforementioned Justine Larbalestier books, Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin (overall I am wary of the books my mom checks out, novelizations famous women in history/literature, because they usually turn out to be giant sexfests, but I trust LeGuin--see, cannot pick a book up off a shelf anymore), and Lauren Bacall and Steve Martin's autobiographies (see: Biographies Quest). Oh and I picked up Allegiance because it was made of love and I felt like reading a SW book I knew ended well. Oh and I should read The Great Gatsby. And Jane Eyre. And maybe work on my own novel.

You know, life as usual.

1) So, in the song "Bad Romance," which I love a lot and which you should listen to, she repeats the line "I don't wanna be friends" multiple times.

Having listened to the song, do you think this line refers to
a) the fact that she wanted a solely sexual relationship
or
b) the fact that they are friends but she wants to be more?

I am doing an informal poll, and your input is welcome.


2) I wrote my Nietzsche paper in an hour (literally) and then lo and behold my knee started going all crazy on me and my good knee started tickling and so I ended up emailing the paper in and sitting on my futon with an ice pack, WOE.


3) I have grown very attached to this cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist," in a "I listen to this over and over again and want to write."


4) Speaking of writing, this is me NOT starting my post-season-3 Katara fic that I spent three hours plotting the other night with nessismore. (Y'all, I hit all the plot points. I even, like, made decisions, where normally I just keep changing it over and over in my head--I had to pick and go.) I really ought to go ahead and get the prologue down before I forget it.


5) I haven't talked about my life in forever, but I haven't really had any crazy adventures or done anything particularly fun lately. I mean, I've had fun, but I've also had a lot of long conversations that amount to "I am screwed once I leave this institution," and that's just not much fun to talk about.


6) A Room with a View is up on YouTube in its entirety, JUST SAYING, if you want to celebrate mah birfday the way I will be celebrating it. (Singing along to "O Mio Babbino Caro" is optional but encouraged. Bonus points if you can do a crazy operatic soprano not-glissando between those two syllables of "bello.")


7) Sophos's face is up, and it is appropriately pretty.


8) Idk, is there anything y'all want to hear about from me?


9) I took Pictash into the creative writing club and they liked him! (He is the singer in this post.)


10) As for that icon meme everyone's been doing, here's my answers from September. (Not!surprise: my answers are mostly the same.)


♥

A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS REVIEW

( actual title of the post )

four hours, minus half an hour of walking and another fifteen minutes of squeeing to Lovie and rereading scenes

okay okay okay okay okay okay uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum, bad things first:

( four points )

( brief description of the novel )

OKAY SO

SQUEE TIME

( incoherent non sequitors of joy )

( what I loved the most )

( the downside to my favorite part, and ruminations about the next books )

( Eddis and Attolia )

( a few more thoughts about things I liked )

Okay, I think I covered all the main points I wanted to, and everything else can be remembered in the comments. Overall, I really, really loved it, and it's still really, really good, and the ways in which it is lacking are bolstered, at least for fans I think, by the characters.

Remind me to tell y'all my adventures in finding my copy. AND REMEMBER, FEEL FREE TO SQUEE AWAY.

READING RAINBOW

BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY
I CAN GO TWICE AS HIGH
TAKE A LOOK
IT'S IN A BOOK
A READING RAINBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

and Abiyoyo and and and music and art and and and LeVar and and aaaaaaaaaaaaand. and.

*watches entire childhood go up in smoke. Again.*






RIP Reading Rainbow 1983-2009

1) So today I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory because irrel and rashaka keep drawing/writing hot makeout art/fic between Sheldon and Penny. This particular episode was the one in which Penny gets banished for sitting in his spot in the couch.

( in which I am maybe a little distracted from the actual plot of the episode )

2) I am sort of kind of addicted to Bones. In "I've watched some episodes from season 2 and season 3" way. In a "this show sometimes has faulty/lame sentences, and I usually don't like gruesome crime shows, but the characters are awesome and the writers don't shy away from the Big Stuff" way. In a "DAVID BOREANZ YOU ARE SO AWESOME WHEN YOU ARE NOT TRYING TO BE WITH BUFFY" way. In a "I have spent over half an hour looking for a decent version of this particular scene I watched today IN ORDER TO SHARE ITS AWESOME WITH YOU" way.

SUCCESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Well, not total, because it would work better with the lead-in, but anyway.

( despite all the interesting thought-provoking cool things about this show--or perhaps, in order to have them--the formula it follows is really quite basic )

( other fun things about Bones )

( today's example of Why I Am Falling For this Show )

3. Today my sisters and I are going to finish watching Ouran. Nuff said, I think.

MORI/HARUHI. SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THEM IN THE MANGA as I am not too lazy but just too...not-lazy to read it.

also I know the anime is pretty straight-forwardly Mori/Honey in what appears to be a more-than-friends way, but the manga (at least what I HAVE read) seemed more ambiguous (yay friends!)

also Mori is such an emo kid ilh.

meanwhile I need more Kyouya/Haruhi in my life.

ALSO Storm of Zephir seems to be screwing the crap out of my NWN2 game. SCREW YOU I don't even like that expansion pack really.

...why yes, I'm procrastinating on all the stuff I need to do before I go to work tonight. *dies*

also I have no Mori icons. oops.