![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beaslaysAs part of my efforts to change my life around, I've started keeping a Tiddlyspace notebook to keep me organized in my fannish/web based pursuits. You see, I recently realized that I had somehow made my life revolve around fandom and roleplay, and...I really don't like that. So I've also decided to start journaling again and posting more than a few words about the things I do here on this DW.
So, personal updates first. Like I said recently, I've just entered my third year of college. In fact, yesterday was the first day. It was really quite stressful, as I had exactly one class in another campus squished between two classes in another (and my usual) campus. And the other campus happens to be an entire block away. So all my Mondays for this term will be like this.
I'm a bit worried about my 3D Animation class though. I'm required to use a specific software that has no OSX version, so I'll have to bust out the Vbox again. Worst still is that my school doesn't provide copies of required software for a student discount while simultaneously looking down on and discouraging piracy. Well, what do they expect their students to do in a situation like that?
In other news, I picked up a really neat organizer with so many pockets while in Hong Kong. So far it's served me well and I look forward to making lots of good use of it.
Promstuck is this Saturday and needless to say I am super --EXCIT--ED! I'll be going as Meenah, in a suit and hot pink shades, while my date will be going as Feferi. Well, hopefully she can attend, her parents have so far been utter bullshit about this.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders airs every Friday, but I only grab new episodes come Friday and my god I'm infinitely in a state of HYPE TRAIN for this series. I ended up joining the Jojo fandom last year after watching the anime of Part 1 and Part 2, then I read the entire manga up to Part 7. I still have to read Part 8, but I'm looking to start soon.
Now for some media updates!
Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu brought me back to when I was still learning how to write seriously - in a good way! Specifically, it reminded me of how, back in 2006/2007, I stumbled upon Lu's Deviantart. Entranced by her amazing art, I proceeded to learn everything I could about her works. This was around the time I was just starting out on art and writing, so stumbling upon her website and reading her work was one of the things that inspired me to take writing and art more seriously.
So when, years after I had fallen out of my habit of reading, I found out that Lu finally got her work published in Legend. I was soooo excited! But then it took me a bit much longer after that before I finally got around to actually reading it. I read it in a day. Then I picked up Prodigy and read that in a day. Sadly I've been distracted since and I haven't finished Champion yet.
Now, for some actual thoughts on the books - I loved them! Day and June were both engaging characters and, as evidenced by my finishing both in a day, I simply couldn't put either book down. The worldbuilding was also delicious. My favorite parts from both books are moments where new things about the setting were revealed. The romance between Day and June, while having a very short timespan to develop, didn't feel rushed at all.
Comparisons to The Hunger Games Trilogy are inevitable, and I'll say it now: I enjoyed Legend and Prodigy more than I enjoyed The Hunger Games Trilogy. I won't lie, I couldn't put down the books of that series either, but Legend and Prodigy each left me with a better impression than that series did combined. Hopefully the movie, when it does finally appear, will manage to capture what Day and June perfectly!
World War Z by Max Brooks left me with a craving for more, more, more. I got around to reading it after watching the movie, which I plan to rewatch soon, and I'm honestly glad they didn't bother trying to adapt the book - or even just any part of it - as faithfully as possible! The sheer level of detail and realism in World War Z blew me away. I will admit there are probably some parts that weren't as realistic as they could have been though, but I think these don't detract from the book at all.
World War Z is probably my favorite media to deal with zombies so far. It's a book about humanity more than it is about zombies, and I think that's what makes it so good and accessible to someone who is terrified of zombies like me.
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey was a delight to read through. I don't read romance genre novels. Ever. But I think I'm going to have to start now, seeing how this is only book one of the series Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. Lackey's writing style somewhat feels more fannish than the usual book does, and I think that's what made me so comfortable with this book. That, and the fact that the actual romance doesn't occur until roughly halfway through the book.
The Fairy Godmother being about fairytales - subverted or otherwise - is a huge bonus. I loved reading fairytales as a child, even the bloodier ones, and I had a grand time picking up the various references as I read through this book. It felt very much like I was actually reading a fairy tale. So I guess you could say it's like a fairy tale book for adults.
Also, I simply adore Elena as a female character. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of this series.
Movies next. Uh. This is a big-ish list so I'm just going to put all the posters together and go through each one quickly.
The Lego Movie is my favorite out of all the recent movies I've watched, actually! I went into the theater not sure what to expect and came out wanting to bust out my old legos to play with. This is a movie that just works, even with cheesy twist at the end.
Frozen isn't the best Disney movie as its more obsessive fangirls would insist. Of course, I was, like everyone else, blown away by 'Let It Go' and the relatively well-written cast of characters, but I firmly believe that Frozen is simply a transitional movie for Disney as they start working out even better stories than before. It's just that Frozen does this well. What it does not do well however is giving Jonathan Groff's amazing singing voice a proper song to do him justice. That, and I may be angry about how Hans being the villain felt like a cop-out once they realized they forgot to add a villain. And the trolls. Holy shit, I hate the trolls.
Pacific Rim is just awesome. Not much to say about Pacific Rim beyond that really! Fantastic characters, wonderful story, beautiful world building - what more can I ask for?
Walking With Dinosaurs 3D is just godawful. Just. I. There are no words for how angry this movie makes me feel. The closest I can think of is "rapes my childhood", which is a phrase I had always hoped to never never never never never have to throw out. The animation is gorgeous, the execution is not.
The Legend of Hercules made me feel like I was watching a B-movie. Maybe it actually is one. I don't know. Either way, it was just all right. Something to watch when you're in the mood for good old cliches and lots of popcorn.
Tarzan is just all right. The animation was decent. The story, not particularly. I liked Clayton's character, but Disney's Tarzan movie is still the more memorable one.
Pompeii is cliche as all hells for a disaster movie and clearly inspired by Titanic, but, like the Legend of Hercules, good for poppin' popcorn like no tomorrow.
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is probably the strangest adaptation of Journey to the West I've ever encountered, but I won't put it off as a particularly bad movie. While it spends most of the screen time focusing on comedic antics, there's just enough seriousness to balance things out perfectly.
Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is one of my childhood movies that I absolutely adored, and rewatching it now as an adult was extremely rewarding. I can now relate quite well with the struggles that Anneliese and Erika go through, aside from the whole role switching and evil chancellor thing obviously, and I can honestly say that there is nothing cheesy about this movie at all. And, of course, Preminger is an amazingly acted and written villain.
300: Rise of an Empire is too confusing without having seen 300 before, and sadly I have not watched 300 in years, so I really couldn't quite appreciate this midquel too much. That said, Artemisia was wonderfully absolutely crazy and I would not have her any other way.
Robocop left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I've never seen the old Robocop movies, so I can't do any comparisons, but I can say that this one took a painfully long time to really take off, as it spends what felt like at least an hour establishing just how Robocop became Robocop. Now, I did enjoy this movie, and I really like the inclusion of the issues surrounding Robocop's emotions and such. I also liked the action sequences. What left me with a bad taste in my mouth, however, was the subtext regarding robotization, specifically in the early scene where American robots are used to subdue the citizens of another country.
Non-Stop grabbed me, shook me hard, and left me reeling. It's pure awesome as a thriller and literally had me and my family at the edges of our seats. I can't say much about it without spoiling, but Non-Stop is a great example of masterful storytelling (with one minor plot hole that can be easily ignored anyway).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 left me feeling horrible and sad for all the characters god I can't even talk about this without feeling sad again :(
Godzilla was awesome! I'm not too familiar with most of the old franchise, but I did enjoy this movie. It sadly has the same problem as Bay's Transformers though. Too much focus on uninteresting humans, and not enough kaijus fighting.
The Flirting Scholar 2 is not a serious movie and does not take itself seriously in any way at all and that actually manages to work for it. The jokes are all over the place and tell the story of a not-quite-yet famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty with modern sensibilities despite being set in the Ming Dynasty down to the accurate costumes and sets, even including a recurring Transformers joke at one point. It's the kind of movie where you have to turn your brain off...and it still manages to make sense.
Now for anime!
Dennou Coil is officially one of my favorite anime ever. While I'm not too fond of the art style, the animation is amazing, especially with the way glitching is portrayed. It's an anime about childhood, loss, and the loss of that childhood, and it tells its story well. I'll have to admit though, that while Yasako and Haraken is a genuinely cute canon pairing, I can't help but find that I ship Yasako and Isako together more.
And video games! I recently got myself a 3DS and oh man it has been awesome.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is only the second Zelda game I've ever completed. The first was Minish Cap, which is unfortunately not in any way the game that A Link Between Worlds is the sequel of. Even so, I easily understood LBTW and it's one of my favorite games ever now (I have a lot of favorite things).
Incidentally, the 3DS I got was the last limited edition LBTW gold 3DS unit in Data Blitz. It's a gorgeous thing.
Pokemon X is the very reason I even bothered to buy a 3DS. And it was worth every peso.
Before Pokemon X, the last Pokemon game I played was Emerald. I have absolutely no idea about the games in between, so I can't compare X to them. There's so many things I love about Pokemon X, I can't possibly list them all, but one of those is how dynamic the battle system can get now, especially with the addition of Pokemon Amie.
Case in point! During my Champion battle, my level 50-something Sylveon took on her level 66 Goodra and completely destroyed it by virtue of first toughing it out and staying on the defensive with potions...then at one point the Goodra's Fire Blast inflicted a burn on my Sylveon. This was the turning point where I pretty much went holy shit - a turn later, the Sylveon shrugged off the burn status thanks to its max affection, then proceeded to dodge every single attack while casually Moonblasting its way to victory.
That was also the point where I went 'holy shit, I love this game.'
Right now I'm watching Mirai Nikki and playing Pokemon Black. I'm not sure yet what book to read next. Probably Champion, to round off the Legend Trilogy.
That said, I don't think my next post like this will have this many movies in it. Probably just one or two, like X-men Days of Future Past. Which is coming out tomorrow. Gods, I'm so excited for that I don't know what to think.
//
So, personal updates first. Like I said recently, I've just entered my third year of college. In fact, yesterday was the first day. It was really quite stressful, as I had exactly one class in another campus squished between two classes in another (and my usual) campus. And the other campus happens to be an entire block away. So all my Mondays for this term will be like this.
I'm a bit worried about my 3D Animation class though. I'm required to use a specific software that has no OSX version, so I'll have to bust out the Vbox again. Worst still is that my school doesn't provide copies of required software for a student discount while simultaneously looking down on and discouraging piracy. Well, what do they expect their students to do in a situation like that?
In other news, I picked up a really neat organizer with so many pockets while in Hong Kong. So far it's served me well and I look forward to making lots of good use of it.
Promstuck is this Saturday and needless to say I am super --EXCIT--ED! I'll be going as Meenah, in a suit and hot pink shades, while my date will be going as Feferi. Well, hopefully she can attend, her parents have so far been utter bullshit about this.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders airs every Friday, but I only grab new episodes come Friday and my god I'm infinitely in a state of HYPE TRAIN for this series. I ended up joining the Jojo fandom last year after watching the anime of Part 1 and Part 2, then I read the entire manga up to Part 7. I still have to read Part 8, but I'm looking to start soon.
Now for some media updates!
Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu brought me back to when I was still learning how to write seriously - in a good way! Specifically, it reminded me of how, back in 2006/2007, I stumbled upon Lu's Deviantart. Entranced by her amazing art, I proceeded to learn everything I could about her works. This was around the time I was just starting out on art and writing, so stumbling upon her website and reading her work was one of the things that inspired me to take writing and art more seriously.
So when, years after I had fallen out of my habit of reading, I found out that Lu finally got her work published in Legend. I was soooo excited! But then it took me a bit much longer after that before I finally got around to actually reading it. I read it in a day. Then I picked up Prodigy and read that in a day. Sadly I've been distracted since and I haven't finished Champion yet.
Now, for some actual thoughts on the books - I loved them! Day and June were both engaging characters and, as evidenced by my finishing both in a day, I simply couldn't put either book down. The worldbuilding was also delicious. My favorite parts from both books are moments where new things about the setting were revealed. The romance between Day and June, while having a very short timespan to develop, didn't feel rushed at all.
Comparisons to The Hunger Games Trilogy are inevitable, and I'll say it now: I enjoyed Legend and Prodigy more than I enjoyed The Hunger Games Trilogy. I won't lie, I couldn't put down the books of that series either, but Legend and Prodigy each left me with a better impression than that series did combined. Hopefully the movie, when it does finally appear, will manage to capture what Day and June perfectly!
World War Z by Max Brooks left me with a craving for more, more, more. I got around to reading it after watching the movie, which I plan to rewatch soon, and I'm honestly glad they didn't bother trying to adapt the book - or even just any part of it - as faithfully as possible! The sheer level of detail and realism in World War Z blew me away. I will admit there are probably some parts that weren't as realistic as they could have been though, but I think these don't detract from the book at all.
World War Z is probably my favorite media to deal with zombies so far. It's a book about humanity more than it is about zombies, and I think that's what makes it so good and accessible to someone who is terrified of zombies like me.
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey was a delight to read through. I don't read romance genre novels. Ever. But I think I'm going to have to start now, seeing how this is only book one of the series Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. Lackey's writing style somewhat feels more fannish than the usual book does, and I think that's what made me so comfortable with this book. That, and the fact that the actual romance doesn't occur until roughly halfway through the book.
The Fairy Godmother being about fairytales - subverted or otherwise - is a huge bonus. I loved reading fairytales as a child, even the bloodier ones, and I had a grand time picking up the various references as I read through this book. It felt very much like I was actually reading a fairy tale. So I guess you could say it's like a fairy tale book for adults.
Also, I simply adore Elena as a female character. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of this series.
Movies next. Uh. This is a big-ish list so I'm just going to put all the posters together and go through each one quickly.
The Lego Movie is my favorite out of all the recent movies I've watched, actually! I went into the theater not sure what to expect and came out wanting to bust out my old legos to play with. This is a movie that just works, even with cheesy twist at the end.
Frozen isn't the best Disney movie as its more obsessive fangirls would insist. Of course, I was, like everyone else, blown away by 'Let It Go' and the relatively well-written cast of characters, but I firmly believe that Frozen is simply a transitional movie for Disney as they start working out even better stories than before. It's just that Frozen does this well. What it does not do well however is giving Jonathan Groff's amazing singing voice a proper song to do him justice. That, and I may be angry about how Hans being the villain felt like a cop-out once they realized they forgot to add a villain. And the trolls. Holy shit, I hate the trolls.
Pacific Rim is just awesome. Not much to say about Pacific Rim beyond that really! Fantastic characters, wonderful story, beautiful world building - what more can I ask for?
Walking With Dinosaurs 3D is just godawful. Just. I. There are no words for how angry this movie makes me feel. The closest I can think of is "rapes my childhood", which is a phrase I had always hoped to never never never never never have to throw out. The animation is gorgeous, the execution is not.
The Legend of Hercules made me feel like I was watching a B-movie. Maybe it actually is one. I don't know. Either way, it was just all right. Something to watch when you're in the mood for good old cliches and lots of popcorn.
Tarzan is just all right. The animation was decent. The story, not particularly. I liked Clayton's character, but Disney's Tarzan movie is still the more memorable one.
Pompeii is cliche as all hells for a disaster movie and clearly inspired by Titanic, but, like the Legend of Hercules, good for poppin' popcorn like no tomorrow.
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is probably the strangest adaptation of Journey to the West I've ever encountered, but I won't put it off as a particularly bad movie. While it spends most of the screen time focusing on comedic antics, there's just enough seriousness to balance things out perfectly.
Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is one of my childhood movies that I absolutely adored, and rewatching it now as an adult was extremely rewarding. I can now relate quite well with the struggles that Anneliese and Erika go through, aside from the whole role switching and evil chancellor thing obviously, and I can honestly say that there is nothing cheesy about this movie at all. And, of course, Preminger is an amazingly acted and written villain.
300: Rise of an Empire is too confusing without having seen 300 before, and sadly I have not watched 300 in years, so I really couldn't quite appreciate this midquel too much. That said, Artemisia was wonderfully absolutely crazy and I would not have her any other way.
Robocop left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I've never seen the old Robocop movies, so I can't do any comparisons, but I can say that this one took a painfully long time to really take off, as it spends what felt like at least an hour establishing just how Robocop became Robocop. Now, I did enjoy this movie, and I really like the inclusion of the issues surrounding Robocop's emotions and such. I also liked the action sequences. What left me with a bad taste in my mouth, however, was the subtext regarding robotization, specifically in the early scene where American robots are used to subdue the citizens of another country.
Non-Stop grabbed me, shook me hard, and left me reeling. It's pure awesome as a thriller and literally had me and my family at the edges of our seats. I can't say much about it without spoiling, but Non-Stop is a great example of masterful storytelling (with one minor plot hole that can be easily ignored anyway).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 left me feeling horrible and sad for all the characters god I can't even talk about this without feeling sad again :(
Godzilla was awesome! I'm not too familiar with most of the old franchise, but I did enjoy this movie. It sadly has the same problem as Bay's Transformers though. Too much focus on uninteresting humans, and not enough kaijus fighting.
The Flirting Scholar 2 is not a serious movie and does not take itself seriously in any way at all and that actually manages to work for it. The jokes are all over the place and tell the story of a not-quite-yet famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty with modern sensibilities despite being set in the Ming Dynasty down to the accurate costumes and sets, even including a recurring Transformers joke at one point. It's the kind of movie where you have to turn your brain off...and it still manages to make sense.
Now for anime!
Dennou Coil is officially one of my favorite anime ever. While I'm not too fond of the art style, the animation is amazing, especially with the way glitching is portrayed. It's an anime about childhood, loss, and the loss of that childhood, and it tells its story well. I'll have to admit though, that while Yasako and Haraken is a genuinely cute canon pairing, I can't help but find that I ship Yasako and Isako together more.
And video games! I recently got myself a 3DS and oh man it has been awesome.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is only the second Zelda game I've ever completed. The first was Minish Cap, which is unfortunately not in any way the game that A Link Between Worlds is the sequel of. Even so, I easily understood LBTW and it's one of my favorite games ever now (I have a lot of favorite things).
Incidentally, the 3DS I got was the last limited edition LBTW gold 3DS unit in Data Blitz. It's a gorgeous thing.
Pokemon X is the very reason I even bothered to buy a 3DS. And it was worth every peso.
Before Pokemon X, the last Pokemon game I played was Emerald. I have absolutely no idea about the games in between, so I can't compare X to them. There's so many things I love about Pokemon X, I can't possibly list them all, but one of those is how dynamic the battle system can get now, especially with the addition of Pokemon Amie.
Case in point! During my Champion battle, my level 50-something Sylveon took on her level 66 Goodra and completely destroyed it by virtue of first toughing it out and staying on the defensive with potions...then at one point the Goodra's Fire Blast inflicted a burn on my Sylveon. This was the turning point where I pretty much went holy shit - a turn later, the Sylveon shrugged off the burn status thanks to its max affection, then proceeded to dodge every single attack while casually Moonblasting its way to victory.
That was also the point where I went 'holy shit, I love this game.'
Right now I'm watching Mirai Nikki and playing Pokemon Black. I'm not sure yet what book to read next. Probably Champion, to round off the Legend Trilogy.
That said, I don't think my next post like this will have this many movies in it. Probably just one or two, like X-men Days of Future Past. Which is coming out tomorrow. Gods, I'm so excited for that I don't know what to think.
//
