Monday, September 3, 2012

Joss Whedon is literally the worst

Or perhaps the best, depending on how you look at it.

You know those text posts on Tumblr that talk about a whole bunch of writers who are in like, an evil club because they kill off their main characters and they're absolutely horrible and heartbreaking and you hate them but you love them? And they usually involve picking on Stephenie Meyer because she's a shitty writer for not killing anyone (which isn't true-- there's plenty of other reasons she's a shitty writer).

Well, I'm familiar with the work of most of the writers that are included on those lists: Joss Whedon, JK Rowling, John Green, Steven Moffat, etc.

And let me just say, Joss Whedon is LITERALLY the worst.

He is the only one who has killed the MAIN, TITLE character. TWICE. And he has killed plenty of other main characters. And probably the worst part is when he shows the other characters dealing with their friends' deaths.

John Green has killed two characters. And you knew Augustus was going to die. Alaska, however, was a bit of a shock, so I'll give him that.

Steven Moffat doesn't kill main characters. He just likes to cheat death in ways that sometimes don't make any sense at all. Cheating death and actually dying aren't the same thing. (Also, River Song wasn't too distressing because I didn't know her well enough to be emotional over her death, and frankly, I still don't care).

JK Rowling does come pretty close, though. Especially with Fred and Dobby and Remus and Tonks. I'm pretty sure I sobbed through the last few chapters, half because of character deaths and half because of it being over.

However, I have both read the Harry Potter books and seen all of Joss Whedon's shows, and I have to say you don't know gut-wrenching, life-ruining, I-want-to-kill-myself, pain over a character death until you've seen the episode of Angel, A Hole In The World. I even knew what was coming: I knew who died, I knew how she died. But when I watched it, nothing could prepare me for the emotions I felt. I have literally never cried that much in my entire life.

If you don't believe me, I'm not going to tell you to watch Angel because if you're reluctant to do so, you won't care as much. But if you like supernatural things with amazing characters, and strong female characters,  you should watch at the very least Buffy and Angel, and experience emotional trauma like never before.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

No college anxiety, just excitement

I totally meant to attempt to blog every day in August (or at least frequently), but August came and it completely slipped my mind. Now, it's halfway through the month and I'm remembering that I have a blog. It's not that I've been busy doing other things. I've been distracted by Tumblr and YouTube and not to mention getting ready for college.

I move into my dorm in ten days, and classes start in thirteen days. As of right now, I'm just really excited. I have a great schedule with three hour breaks for lunch every day and only one class on Fridays, and I'll be living with one of my best friends, and I already met an awesome Nerdfighter/Whovian/Felicia Day fan at orientation and we've been talking on Facebook since then so I'm really excited to see her again! I'm excited to be an adult, going to college, studying what I'm passionate about, having more independence, etc.

I honestly don't feel any nervousness at all. That's making me a little scared though, that the night before I move, I'm going to have an anxiety attack or something. I'm hoping that won't happen.

I went shopping for a bunch of dorm stuff last week, and we were able to check most things off my list. We got plates, bowls, cups, utensils, hampers, storage things, shower caddy, pillow, sheets, etc. We even got a bunch of basic things like toothpaste and shampoo and deodorant and floss. I'm going to Target tomorrow to hopefully get everything else.

I just absolutely cannot wait to start school. It's a new chapter of my life. I'm going to learn so many new things and meet so many new people! And it's the first step on my journey of becoming a screenwriter and living my dream.

In other news, I'm starting a collab channel on YouTube with some other people about college. We're in a few different years and we're all studying different things and we're going to talk about our college experience and what we're learning, and we'll possibly have weekly discussion topics. We're planning on hopefully starting the first week of September, so keep your eyes open for that.

Best wishes!

p.s. When I clicked "new post", I had absolutely no idea what I was going to talk about, I just knew I wanted to write a blog post. This is what came out of that.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

So many things to do!

It's summer, and I'm surprised I haven't made more blog posts over summer, but I've been distracted.  It's so nice to have a summer where I don't have any homework or reading or studying to do.  It's amazing to have so much free time to do whatever I want. Then again, most of my friends either live too far, can't drive, or are always busy, so I haven't seen my friends too much... I've mostly spent that free time on the Tumblr, YouTube, or Netflix.

There are so many things I need to do this summer, and I only have one month and two days left.  I'm trying to watch about five different tv shows.  There's also about ten books I want to read.  Plus, I've recently been wanting to reread Harry Potter and my John Green books.  I also want time to play Lego Harry Potter on the Wii, because I just got that.  I want time to do mindless scrolling through Tumblr.  I want time to write.  I want time to catch up on YouTube videos.

And on top of all that, I have to go shopping for college stuff and pack things and just get ready for this big change from high school to college.

I'm excited for college. I'm not really nervous at all.  My roommate is one of my best friends from high school, I have an amazing schedule (with only one class on Fridays!), and I already made some awesome new friends at orientation last month.  I'm excited to start learning.  I'm excited to get my core classes done so I can just study film and television.  I'm excited to meet new people and have new experiences and to just grow as a person!

But before that, I have a lot of things to do.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Les Miserables review

Tonight, I was able to see a production of Les Miserables at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.  It was my first time seeing the entire musical and let me say, it was phenomenal.  However, coming from my old high school's drama department, I do have a bit of a critic in me, so there are a few things I wanted to talk about.

If you do not know what it's about, I'm not going to summarize it because it's very complicated.  I tried to explain the basic plot to my dad but it still took about twenty minutes because there's so many little things that have to be included!  So if you are unfamiliar with the musical, you can read about it on Wikipedia so you can understand the characters and scenes I'm talking about.

Firstly, I'd like to talk about the set and lighting.  As part of the set, they had this screen that they would project onto to show the background or scenery, and in some cases it moved.  Like when Jean Valjean was carrying Marius through the sewers, they had a sewer image projected onto the screen that moved so it looked like he was traveling through the sewers.  I thought that was very cool.

The lights, though, were a bit less than satisfactory.  The overall lighting and color filters they used were good and fit the mood.  However, there were some times where a performer was not in enough light.  I don't know why, but their faces were in shadow.  There was one scene at the beginning with Javert singing and he was the main focus, but if you hadn't been paying attention, you wouldn't have known which person onstage was him because his face was in shadow and he had the same amount of light as everyone else.  Also, the spotlight that was following people sometimes missed and the people would be out of the light for a few seconds.

Now, to discuss the performers.  There's a lot I could say about them, but I will keep it brief.  The man playing Javert was a great actor, but I couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time.  I already knew some of the lyrics to the songs, so I understood those parts, but the parts that I didn't know sounded like gibberish.  He could articulate a little more.  I think that bothered me so much because articulation is one of the most important things we work on at my old school's theatre program.  The audience needs to understand what you are saying.

Eponine was a phenomenal singer, but I don't think her voice was right for the part.  The girl has an incredible voice, but sometimes, the songs would sound a bit awkward with her voice.  She killed the end of On My Own, though.  I was almost in tears because she sounded so wonderful.  Also, her acting wasn't up to par.  I mean, obviously Eponine would be a difficult character to play, and she did a decent job, but I don't think she really thought about the different layers that went into her character.  She was good, but she could have done a much better job.

I also didn't hate Cosette as much as I thought I would.  I know that there are a lot of people who don't like Cosette, and I'm not quite sure why.  She isn't a bad character.  I think it's mostly because people feel bad for Eponine, and that causes them to hate Cosette.  I love Eponine, but I also really like Cosette too, and  I like her relationship with Marius.  It's what the story needed.  Marius was never in love with Eponine anyway, and Eponine knew that.  If Marius had been torn between Cosette and Eponine, then I might understand people not liking Cosette because he chose her instead, but there was no choice.  He always loved Cosette and they have a good relationship.

I'm not sure if my rant about Cosette is considered complaining, but I'm going to stop complaining now so I don't seem whiny and talk about people I liked.  My favorite actors were those playing Jean Valjean, Fantine, and the inkeeper & his wife.  Those people were absolutely outstanding.  Especially Fantine and Valjean.  I was in tears at Fantine's Death because it was so...beautiful.  I'm not sure that's the right word, but both actors were amazing and brought so much emotion and talent to the scene that it had me in tears.  The other number I really liked was Master of the House.  It was hilarious.

I'm also glad that Fantine and Cosette actually looked like they could be related.  Often, I've seen that Fantine looks more like Eponine than Cosette for some reason, which makes no sense because Cosette is Fantine's daughter.  And then there's the the 25th Anniversary Concert with Lea Salonga as Fantine and Katie Hill as Cosette.  How do you go from Asian to white and blonde?  I don't get it.  But this time they were both blonde, so that was good.

Overall, it was a great production.  I'm actually really excited for the film to come out later this year, and I plan on going to see it at midnight!  I'm also glad that Samantha Barks is Eponine for the film because, of all the different  girls I've seen as Eponine on youtube and such, she is my favorite.

Anyway, I should be getting to bed because I have to be up early tomorrow because I have freshman orientation.  Yay college!  Before I go, I wanted to let you know that I have a new blog on Tumblr for short stories and such that I write, so you can check that out if you'd like at http://deathbypolarbear.tumblr.com/

Until next time.

Friday, June 15, 2012

I'm a high school graduate.

It's been a while since I last blogged, but since then, I've graduated high school.  I know, big accomplishment.

However, I told myself that, since I can drive, I'm actually going to do stuff this summer.  I'm not just going to sit around in bed all day long and I'm going to hang out with my friends.  Well that's not working out so well. I mean, I went to lunch with my friend Caity two weeks ago.  And I've been to two of my friends' graduation parties.  And I went to the swap meet with my mom and my sister last weekend.  But other than that, I've been in bed, not doing anything.

It's not like I don't try to make plans.  I wanted to hang out with a few of my friends on Tuesday, but only one of them was free and he didn't have a ride.  He was trying to get me to battle my conscience to go pick him up illegally (because I'm not eighteen yet).  That didn't work out.  Then I was supposed to hang out with him and a few other people today, but then my friend Bianca said she can't do today and said tomorrow instead.  Let's see how long it takes for tomorrow to fall through...

I mean, I am doing a lot of things this summer, so I'm really excited.  Like, starting next week, I've got a lot coming up!  I'm going to see Les Miserables on Wednesday.  Then, Thursday and Friday is freshman orientation, so I'll get to visit my college again, and I'll get to meet people!  The next weekend is VidCon, which I'm very, very excited for and I will give anything to talk to Felicia Day and Hayley G Hoover sometime that weekend.  I'm also supposed to get together with my director's wife and kids for a Denny's trip because his daughter Karina wants us to, and I have no idea when that will be but I hope it's soon because I miss them a lot!  Then it's July and, well, I'll stop talking about everything I'm doing this summer.

I just want to get out of the house and see some friends, but all of my friends are either busy or can't drive!  Instead, I'm stuck here, in my bedroom, watching old episodes of Avatar the Last Airbender on Netflix, daydreaming about what it would be like if I were actually a waterbender and wishing that bending was real because then the world would be a better place (and by better, I mean more awesome).

Monday, April 30, 2012

Improv and coffee house

I hope you all enjoyed the poem from last time, and I apologize for not having made another post sooner.  I've been a lot busier than I thought I would be.

I'm not yet ready to say goodbye to performing in high school...  This Friday is a Coffee House and Improv night and I'm performing in both!  The first half, coffee house, is when people can go up and perform whatever they want, be it singing, dancing, a monologue, stand up comedy, whatever you want! Auditions for that were today and I'm singing For Good from Wicked with my friend Lisa, and she'll be playing it on piano.  I didn't know if we were going to do it for sure or not until today at break, so we just practiced for the first time today at break, lunch, and after school.  Except we only had the piano at break, so the rest of the time we were just working on harmonies because I am horrible at them.  I'm singing Glinda's part, but doing the high harmonies that go with Elphaba's part because Lisa can't play piano and harmonize at the same time so she asked me to do it.  And when we went to audition today, there was no piano in the theater, so he just had us sing acapella for our audition.  He said we were fine, just to work on the harmony because I screwed it up again.

And improv is basically like Whose Line is it Anyway.  There's six of us and we do a bunch of improv games and it's a lot of fun.  I did it last semester, and I'm really glad I get to do it again this semester.  I'm also glad that I get to stretch out my time before I have to say goodbye to high school theatre for good.  I'm not looking forward to the drama club banquet in two weeks because that will be a sad day.

ONE. MONTH. UNTIL. GRADUATION.  It's so close but so far...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Poetry?


Last night was closing night for my last ever high school show, The Diviners.  It was...bittersweet.  But I will discuss that later because tonight is prom and I have to get ready soon, so I have something else to leave you with.

About a week ago, Hayley Hoover made a blog post about poetry, and included a poem that she wrote with the prompt for it, inviting her readers to write their own poems based on the prompt.  Now, I'm not much of a poet (excluding that mysterious poet phase I went through a year ago...), but I decided to take a whack at writing a this poem.  I wrote it in class yesterday and the day before, then I reread it today to make sure it doesn't completely suck.  I shall include the prompt too, if you wish to also write a poem.

Warning: my poem contains mild language. Well, not mild exactly.  I kind of drop the F bomb.

In your poem, include at least fourteen of the following items: a statistic, a dish eaten cold, three forms of heat, a smell you can't forget, a line from a movie, something out of a textbook, two things you wish you had said, a reference to an aunt or uncle, some kind of moving vehicle, two words beginning with R and ending with "-ion", a stage direction, two distinct hours of the day, an historical figure, an adhesive, an animal only seen up close in the zoo, a slang expression ("call it quits," for example), something really bad that you did, something that undermines or negates everything else you've said.



Such a big part of my life
I can’t just quit cold turkey.
I want to get out of here, take a car
And drive past midnight
Sleep in until 2 in the afternoon

And they’ll say “Sorry for ending the world”
Well, not the world. My world.
I don’t want to go,
But I can’t be free here.
Like a polar bear, looking so content
But restricted to the confines of his cage.

Do I continue or move on?
Will I never again be told,
“Watch all your firsts,” or “Exit stage left”?
The sweltering heat of thirty bodies backstage
And the scorch of the stage lights.

Will I now only be warm in the sun?
In the sun I only freckle or burn, so
The smell of sunscreen is a familiar one
That reminds me of the summer I long for.

I can stay here and rebel
(In my own, unrebellious way)
Chew gum in class, and when they tell me
To throw it out, I’ll stick it in my textbook,
Binding the monotonous pages together.

But once I’m gone, I’ll want to come back.
I’ll wish I could’ve thanked those who helped me
Or given a big ol’ “FUCK YOU” to the ones I hate.
I can’t just let it go.

Aunt Olivia says she’s proud
When she doesn’t care about this, about me.
And I’ll miss the words of Shakespeare,
Bringing meaning to what others deem gibberish.
But they don’t understand.
I won’t have to let it go completely.
I’ll give this a shot.
I can duct tape my life together:
The new, and the old.

Hopefully you enjoyed it!  Now that my life isn't consumed with rehearsals and performances, I might actually post every day in these last few days of BEDA.  Maybe.

One month and three days until graduation!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Last show of the year

I am currently sitting in my AP Literature class, listening to the prosecution and defense groups for the Hamlet trial we're doing discuss things.  This is one of those times that I'm glad I'm the judge.  I get to sit here on my laptop, listening to them, but also type up a much-needed blog post.

The Diviners opened this weekend.  This is my last show in high school and gosh, it's so much fun!  If you don't know what The Diviners is about, you can click here to read a brief description.  But it has been so much fun.  The cast is amazing and we're always goofing off backstage.  This might be the most fun I've had doing a show, except possibly Night of the Living Dead because, come on, it's pretty tough to beat zombies and fake blood!

During the last month and a few weeks that we've been working on this show, I feel like I've grown so much, both as a person, and in my acting ability.  This director is amazing and he's helped me so much along the way. I have a few "romantic" scenes with my friend Mat, and I was having major troubles acting that well, so there was one point where he kept the two of us onstage and we talked it out.  We talked about why I was having trouble with it, what I can do to make it better, what he can do to make it easier on me.  I swear we were just sitting there for about a half an hour.  Once we got that over with, everyone was already halfway finished with their lunch!  But it helped because I was so much better after that.

And now that we've opened and done four shows, I just love it even more.  My other director came to see the show last night with his family.  I like it when people tell me that I did really well.  Both of my directors have told me that I'm doing a really good job, and that just makes me feel really good about myself.  Mama B told me that I was very believable at pretending to be attracted to Mat!  Hah, she even said that I did a better job at that than Nicole did in Once On This Island.  Emma told me that my screams at the end gave her chills.  Jess told me that her sister started crying because of my screaming.  It's just, things like that make me feel very accomplished.  Last night when I was screaming and crying at the end of the show, after the blackout and when we were just standing there, I felt like I was still crying.  I was breathing heavily and blinking away tears and shaking.  I think that was my best performance so far.

I really can't wait for Wednesday when we get back to performing!  I really hope my director's family comes again, because I really love them.  Except I will probably be pretty sad on closing night with senior circle and everything.  But I'm not going to think about that right now!  I'm just going to enjoy these last few high school performance and give my all.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

I am so ready for college.

This has been my first week back at school after spring break, and although we didn't have school on Monday and today is only Thursday, it feels like the longest week ever (albeit, it could have something to do with the fact that it's hell week, but that's beside the point).

I'm in English class right now and I just finished my last ever independent reading test.  EVER.  The play I read was pretty good, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, but I'm just so glad it's over.  It just means that I'm one step closer to school being over.  One step closer to graduating.  One step closer to college.

I visited LMU on Sunday, the college I'll be attending.  It was incredible.  I absolutely love it there.  The campus is so beautiful, and the people are so friendly, and the screenwriting program is amazing.  The head of the screenwriting department is just such an awesome person and I can't wait to have class with him.  The current students majoring in screenwriting are really nice and they seem just so passionate and dedicated to their choice major.  One of my favorite things is that every Monday night, the school of film and television shows a movie, and a person who worked on the movie comes to talk about it and answer questions after.  I know what I'll be doing every Monday night next year!  I just paid for the commitment deposit last night, so it's now official: I'm in the LMU class of 2016!  Go Lions!!

It's just...seeing life on that campus made me so excited for college.  I'm over high school.  I don't want to do any work.  I just want to perform The Diviners, go to prom, Gradnite, Boscars, and then graduate.  Senior exit interviews are next week.  Once those are over, there is barely a month left of school, and then graduation is on June 1.  We're in the final stretch.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not just an oncoming train.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

I love Joss Whedon!

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but I am going to be pursuing a career as a screenwriter.  Or, more specifically, writer for television, but basically same thing.  That's what I'll be going to school for starting next year and it's what I want to do for a living.  And Joss Whedon is the person I look up to in this field.

I tell people (friends, family, etc) that I want to be a screenwriter, and then they'll ask me what kind of movies or tv shows I want to write.  My short answer to this question is, "I want to be like the female version of Joss Whedon."  I have said this exact sentence multiple times.  Joss Whedon comes up with brilliant ideas for television shows and writes amazing, real characters.  I like how his shows are in the supernatural/science fiction genre.  I mean, I wouldn't want to watch or write about real situations.  If I'm going to watch or write something, I want it to be about something unreal, something that makes you think, something that makes you feel.  I can't tell you how many times Joss Whedon has made me cry, and it's because the situations, the characters, they make you feel.  I like that.

The point of this post isn't to just rant about how wonderful Joss Whedon is.  I actually found this little survey on Tumblr in the Dollhouse tag, so I figured I could fill it out on here!

1. Favorite Joss Whedon show? Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Least favorite Joss Whedon show? The only one I haven't seen yet is Angel, so I guess that.
3. Favorite Buffy episode? Either Once More With Feeling or Tabula Rasa
4. Least favorite Buffy episode? Either Doublemeat Palace or Ted. Those both were just hard for me to watch for some reason.
5. Favorite Buffy character? Willow Rosenberg!
6. Least favorite Buffy character? Probably Riley.
7. Favorite Angel episode? I haven't watched Angel, sorry! I will soon though!
8. Least favorite Angel episode? see above
9. Favorite Angel character?
I'll just leave these blank
10. Least favorite Angel character? 
11. Favorite Firefly episode? Jaynestown
12. Favorite Firefly character? Kaylee or River
13. Favorite Dollhouse episode? Epitaph One and Two
14. Favorite Dollhouse character?
I really love Mag, but she was only in two episodes, so if I can't say her because of that, then Priya or Bennet (who was also only in a few episodes but whatever).
15. Favorite character from Dr. Horrible? Penny
16. Character I love that everyone seems to hate? Dawn
17. Character I hate that everyone seems to love?
Angel, and I'm not a big fan of Paul
18. Whedonverse OTP? Willow/Tara, Xander/Anya, Buffy/Spike
19. Most random ship I sail? Inara/Kaylee (yes, random but I don't care) and Mag/Kilo (not as random because Mag does have a crush on her!)
20. Favorite season of Buffy? 4
21. Favorite season of Angel?
Haven't seen it.
22. Prettiest Buffyverse character? Faith
23. Whedonverse character I want to slap?
Angel
24. Whedonverse character I want to marry? 
Spike, Willow, Wash
25. How I became a Joss Whedon fan?
 My dad made me watch Firefly, I fell in love, and decided to watch Buffy on Netflix. Then Dollhouse. I had already seen Dr. Horrible but didn't know much about Joss Whedon at the time.

So...that's it!  If you're also a fan of Joss Whedon, feel free to let me know your answers in the comments! :)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I have a problem

Yes, I know, this isn't the first time I've missed a day's blog post, and it probably won't be the last.  I'm not going to apologize.  However, I am going to steal nelamonster's idea from a comment on my first blog post this month.  Instead of BEDA, I'm going to change it to BMAFIA.  Blogs may appear frequently in April.  So thank you for that idea.

You know how when you're in school, you can't wait for break, and then when you're on break, you're always bored and want school to start again?  It hasn't been like that for this year's spring break.  I would be perfectly satisfied if I could sit in bed watching Netflix all day and only get out of bed to eat or go to the bathroom.  And maybe go to Disneyland every week or so.  Like, I know that people usually need some sort of never-ending purpose in life (IE, go to school so you can get good grades so you can graduate so you can go to college so you can get a good job, etc.)  However, I have been sitting on my ass in bed watching Netflix all spring break and I haven't had any desire to do homework or look at college stuff or think about school or anything.  Like, I would be perfectly content just doing this for the rest of my life.  Maybe not happy, but content.  That might be a problem.

I started watching Dollhouse the other day and it's really freaking good.  But now that I have to go to rehearsal again every day, it's like, getting in the way of me being able to watch more.  I can only watch three or four episodes a day instead of the normal six or seven.  I know, I have a problem.  Frankly, I don't care.  JOSS WHEDON IS AWESOME.

Another conclusion I've come to recently that is irrelevant but it's my blog so I don't care.  Felicia Day is kind of awesome.  I mean, I've only seen her in Dr. Horrible and her smallish appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, but she seems kind of awesome and I think I really like her.  I think I'm going to watch The Guild once I'm done with Dollhouse.  Which I should be getting back to right now.  Netflix awaits me!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

In which I rant about Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I'm not going to apologize for missing yesterday, I'm not going to try to come up with an excuse other than "I forgot", and I'm not going to apologize for being late again today (or yesterday, but I'm still awake, so today).  But I am in an emotional state right now and it's because I finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Okay, go ahead, laugh all you want, but that show is amazing.  Like, a few months ago, I was asking some people what tv shows I should watch on Netflix and some that I already knew were good were Firefly, Sherlock, and Buffy, and some people literally said, "Watch Buffy.  It's life changing."  I honestly didn't believe them until I actually started watching the show.  I swear, it's as life changing as a television series could possibly be.  It's an amazingly well-written show.  The premise is great, the characters are real, and you can't help but fall in love with each and every one of them.  Even the characters that I didn't like, I liked.  Except for Warren*.  That guy was just a dick.

But I just finished the final episode of season 7 and I spent the last twenty minutes of it sobbing.  This is where I will talk about my thoughts of the episode.  Warning: spoilers ahead!  If you're like me and are late to watch Buffy and don't want to be spoiled, stop reading, or just skip the next paragraph (I promise to keep it all in one paragraph, however long it may be).  If you've already watched Buffy, or you just don't care (which, you should, but I can't control what you do), then read on.

This is probably going to be a jumble of thoughts in no particular order except for when they come to me.  Hooray for stream of consciousness!  Oh my god when Andrew and Anya were robbing the hospital and Andrew was saying that she was going to live and he was going to die, that was so heartbreaking because Anya dies saving him.  It was horrible how Xander was calling for Anya and the camera panned to show her lifeless body on the floor and he couldn't even see her.  And then when Andrew said, "Why aren't I dead?"  That broke my heart all over again.  Spike...I don't even want to talk about Spike.  But when the Welcome to Sunnydale sign fell over, I cried harder because I thought of a post on Tumblr that said something like, "Whenever the Sunnydale sign falls over, you know it's Spike's fault."  Damn.  Oh, god, and Willow.  "You're a goddess."  Willow is like, my all-time favorite fictional character ever.  To overcome that darkness just a year before and become something so pure when attempting even more difficult magic is an amazing feat.  And my last thought is that I liked how Faith was part of that sort of "final group" at the end.  I mean, there were the potentials/new slayers nearer to the bus, but then there was the group away from the bus.  Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn...and Faith.  I really liked that she was included in that.  It's like...sure, she was bad, but she just helped save the damn world.  She was one of the people who had known the Scooby gang the longest.  Hell, she was there before Dawn, but there's the whole fake memories of Dawn thing.  It's just...it kind of shows that she was accepted and she's part of the group again after going bad.  She's redeemed herself, she's a leader, and she saved the world.  I like Faith if you hadn't guessed that by now.

Anyway, done ranting about Buffy now.  I'm still hyped up on emotion from that.  My face still has tear stains.  I've decided that I want a break from the Buffy universe, so I won't watch Angel yet, but I don't want a break from Joss Whedon because although he is an evil bastard, he is a freaking genius.  So I've decided that I'm going to watch Dollhouse.  And because Eliza Dushku is hot, but that's beside the point.

Wish me luck in recovering from my post-Buffy depression.

*Warren, if you don't watch Buffy, killed one of my favorite characters.  He deserved what he got.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

I Like Television

Netflix is wonderful.  I used to not have Netflix and when I finished scrolling through Tumblr, I would be very bored.  Or if there was a TV show or movie I wanted to watch, I had to do it *cough*illegally*cough* online and with very bad quality and it would take forever to load and it wasn't great.

Now that I have Netflix, I'm never bored.  If I miraculously catch up to posts on Tumblr (which has been happening a lot because it's break and I'm on practically 24/7) then I can just turn on Netflix, and it's legal, doesn't take long to load, high quality, etc.

And it lets me watch so many tv shows I've been meaning to watch!  Like Firefly, Sherlock, Skins, and most importantly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I seriously think that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my new favorite show (I think I might like it more than Doctor Who, if they're not tied).  And now I'm almost done watching the show, I'm on season 7.

I kind of wish it didn't have to end because I'd love to see infinite adventures with Buffy, Willow, and Xander, but everything must come to an end.  And, once I'm done watching Buffy, I can still watch Angel, and start other shows I've been meaning to watch!  Like Merlin, Dollhouse (Joss Whedon is awesome and Eliza Dushku is hot), The Guild, Torchwood, and a few other things that aren't coming to mind right now.

Anyway, if you watch Buffy, let me know because I could always use more friends with common interests!  Particularly because I don't have any friends that also watch Buffy... And if you have any suggestions for TV shows to watch, let me know!

Profound Thoughts at 2 AM

I haven't gone to sleep yet so it doesn't count as missing a day!

I can't believe I almost forgot today's post.  And I forgot yesterday's photo.  Wow, I'm doing really horribly at keeping up with things this year.

I cleaned my room today.  Well, kind of.  And I took my Once On This Island script out of my backpack.  I think I've been clinging to that show longer than necessary.  It's been over for three weeks and I was still carrying around my script in my backpack...  It's like, taking it out would mean that it actually is over.  Even though I know it's over.  I just didn't want it to be over.

I've been very nostalgic today.  I was also looking at my scripts for Night of the Living Dead and Phantom Tollbooth.  I miss those shows, too.  It's weird to think that Tollbooth was a year and a half ago...

The last time I went bowling was after a performance of Phantom Tollbooth.  It was fun.  And I'm going bowling for the first time since then tomorrow with a lot of the same people.  I don't know, it seems kind of weird to me.

Time is a weird thing.  It passes by and things you loved are gone and in the past, but they're still there.  You can think about them and remember them, but you can't actually go back to them.  I kind of wish you could.  Sometimes the past is better than the present.  And thinking about the future is too scary.

Yeah, I need to go to sleep and stop thinking.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ah, lazy days

How I love not having school.  No obligations or plans or commitments means that I can sleep in until noon, and stay in bed in pajamas all day watching Netflix.  That is literally how I spent my day today.  I only got out of bed to get food, go to the restroom, and say hi to my aunt when she came over.

I'm almost done with season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is like my new favorite show.  Except it makes me hate Joss Whedon so much more than I already did.  Because I just watched an episode in late season 6 where someone dies and I don't want to give anything away if you plan on watching the show (which you SHOULD because it is AMAZING) but it's really sad and unexpected and I cried for like twenty minutes.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my mum.  We're going to check out some thrift stores to look for costume pieces for The Diviners.  And I'll probably end up getting some nice, cheap clothes there just for me, because thrift stores are awesome.

I think I'll go get some pizza for a late dinner, then continue watching Buffy because, seriously, I know I already said it but this show is freaking amazing.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Hunger Games

I love The Hunger Games.  I've only read the books once, about two years ago, but I own them all.  I was camping out to see the midnight premiere of the film (my picture is on the Krikorian theater Facebook page!) and I've seen it twice so far.  This is my review/how I liked it/comparison to the book post.  So yes, there are spoilers in this!  You have been warned...

I'll start with things I liked about the movie.  I liked how they made it easier to understand for people who haven't read the books.  I mean, yes they should have read the books, but I do know some people who are going to read them because they liked the movie so much!  But I liked how they started the film with the decree about the Hunger Games, and I liked how they showed the video from the Capitol at the reaping and I liked how they had the commentary and showed the gamemakers throughout the games.  I also liked how they showed reactions from the people in their districts (IE: District 12, the riot in District 11, etc.)  I love how what Katniss and Rue say at Rue's death is exactly the same as what's in the book.  "Did you blow up the food?" "Every bit of it."  "You have to win, Katniss."

I really liked Seneca Crane's death.  In the books, it's only implied that he died because he screwed up the games, and they just got a new gamemaker for the next Games.  But I loved how they locked him in the room with a bowl of nightlock.  It really shows how powerful and controlling the Capitol is.  Caesar Flickerman was amazing.  I could not stop laughing.  I also liked when they showed President Snow and Seneca Crane in the rose garden.  It was interesting, and it's already setting up Snow as the antagonist, even though we don't find out too much about him in the first book.

AND THE MUSIC.  Oh my goodness the music is amazing.  I am obsessed with the soundtrack.  Not the soundtrack with the popular songs, but the original motion picture score composed by James Newton Howard.  Wow, it is amazing.  I think my favorite song is "The Countdown".  You should listen to it, it's epic.

Now for the things I didn't like.  I didn't really like the way the rose garden looked.  It was really big and outdoors.  It's just not how I pictured it.  How is that supposed to be a prison cell for Snow later on?  When I read about it in Mockingjay I pictured it as an indoor room, kind of like an indoor greenhouse.  If that makes sense.

I hated how they changed the words of the song that Katniss sings for Rue.  Or, I don't remember if they changed the words, but they at least left out the ending, which was my favorite part: "Here is the place where I love you".  I was so looking forward to hearing her sing that line to Rue and it didn't happen and I was so disappointed!  And they didn't really develop their [Katniss and Rue's] relationship enough, so if you hadn't read the book, you might not get why Katniss was so distraught over Rue's death.  There also wasn't the bread from District 11.  That bothered me.  At the beginning of the film (sorry, I'm kind of jumping around), I didn't like how Katniss got the Mockingjay pin from the Hob.  Madge does not exist in THG film universe.

When they announced that both tributes from the same district could live, Katniss was supposed to shout Peeta's name.  Instead she just whispered it.  Peeta's rock disguise was also weird.  Where did he get the resources to look that much like a rock?  When I read the book, I imagined him at kind of a muddy bank of the river where there was a little water flowing so he could still get some water, and he just smeared mud all over him to blend in.  That would make more sense, right?  Also, Peeta's leg injury was not as bad as it should have been.  He got to keep his leg.  That's not right.  Unpopular opinion: I didn't like Peeta.  I liked him in the books.  I don't know if it was Josh Hutcherson, or the way the character was written, but I just didn't like Peeta.  I found him annoying.

Finally, Katniss and Gale's friendship was too friendly.  In the books, their friendship is described as a mutual respect for each other.  The most "friendly" thing they have is Gale calling her Catnip.  In the books, their relationship is more like, "We hunt together and we help each other feed our families and I respect you and I'll let you call me Catnip because well I'm used to it now. I'm going to the Hunger Games and you know that I probably won't come back so please take care of my family."  Whereas in the films it's like, "Oh ha ha Gale's trying to be funny by scaring away my deer but it's cool because he throws a rock to help me get a few birds. Oh we're going to share food it's so sweet.  Oh I'm going to the Hunger Games but Gale thinks I'm definitely going to win, well, just take care of Prim while I'm gone be back soon TTYL."  Okay maybe that was exaggerated a bit, but still.  MUTUAL RESPECT.  That's it.

Anyway, it might not seem like it but overall I really enjoyed the film.  It was really good for an adaptation of a book.  Much better than any of the Harry Potter films, at least.  Now I'm really excited for Catching Fire, because I think it was my favorite book in the series, if only because it's when we meet a bunch of amazing characters.  I'm so excited to find out the casting of the past Victors from other Districts!  Like Finnick, Beetee, Johanna, Mags, Wiress...

I hope this post was substantial and makes up for my past ones this month!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Spring Break

Today was my last day of school before spring break, so now I'm off until April 17!  Except after school I had rehearsal, then right after that was a senior dance so it's been a very long day.

It's been an extremely long, stressful, and overall crappy day.  That is my excuse for this inexcusable horrible and short post.  But I do still have to be up early tomorrow for rehearsal, and I am exhausted, and I would like to sleep off the stress, so as soon as I post this, I'm going to bed.

However, so this isn't completely horrible, here's something to think about: Which first generation Pokemon is the sexiest?  Or just which first generation Pokemon are sexy?  (I say first generation because that's all I know.  Anyway, I was discussing this with a some friends today.  My answer was Rapidash.  Rapidash is pretty sexy.

Until tomorrow, my friends.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Day Two!

We aren't doing anything in my AP Lit class right now so I figured I would take this opportunity to write my blog post for the day.  Technically we're supposed to be discussing Hamlet trial ideas, but...we're not doing that.  I've been talking with some girls in my class about college and money for the last half hour.

My teacher also just mentioned a scholarship contest for writing the script of a play about a disability.  I want to be a screenwriter, so I thought this would be a good scholarship for me to try for.  So I'm going to be writing a play.  I have to send it into Virginia by April 16, so I really should get working on it so it will arrive in time when I send it.

I swear, most of my bookmarks right now are for scholarship applications.  I'm really excited for college, but I'm not so excited for having to pay for it.  I want to use loans as little as I possibly can so I have less to pay back after graduation, but my tuition will probably end up being entirely loans.  Scholarships will help though, let's just hope that I can actually win one.

I will probably save the Hunger Games discussion for Wednesday because that is my first day of spring break and I will actually have time.  I only have like, 6 days off for spring break because after that, I have to go back to rehearsal.  The first Friday we're back at school is opening night... We open in 18 days and I still don't know all my lines!  I need to work on that.

Anyway, class is almost out so I'll just post this now so I don't forget later.  Until tomorrow! (Hopefully).

Sunday, April 1, 2012

BEDA: Day One

Yes, it's that time of year again!  The month of writing a blog post every single day!  I actually didn't realize that it's April until about an hour ago, so this will just be a quick thing because I have an essay to write.  And I suppose I wanted to do this as just another means of procrastination...  I mean, technically I already wrote the rough draft and just need to revise it, but I did that all the night before it was due also, so it is entirely crap.  However, it's quite possible I will end up re-writing the entire thing.

I am going to attempt to blog every single day this month.  Attempt is the keyword.  It is highly likely that I will not be able to keep up with it because I am in a play at school and we open this month... It is also highly likely that I will end up writing a few of these posts in the middle of class or publishing them well past midnight (but I only count it as missing if I go to sleep before posting).

Also, on my tumblr, I am doing a Photo a Day in April challenge, so if you want to, you can follow me on there and check that out. :)

Tomorrow I will try to talk about something more interesting like The Hunger Games movie, or the upcoming holiday, or the play I'm in, but right now I must write my paper so I don't fail my senior year!  That wouldn't be good.  It's going to be a long night, but my friend Lisa said she might call me so we can pull an all-nighter together and keep each other awake and discuss our papers because we're chose the same prompt.

Time to go talk about Shakespeare and staging and directing. Yippee!

P.S. If you haven't listened to the Original Motion Picture Score for The Hunger Games yet, LISTEN TO IT. It is amazing.  And I mean the instrumental stuff, not the popular soundtrack with Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars (although they are good songs too).

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Hell Week

One of my favorite parts about being in a play or musical is hell week.  I know, that probably sounds horrible because of the name, but despite the excruciatingly long days and sleep deprivation, hell week is so much fun!

If you are not a thespian, the infamous hell week (or tech week) is the week before the show opens.  Rehearsals are much longer (I usually don't get home until 9:30 or 10:00 PM).  It is when pretty much everything is done and you just do full dress rehearsals.  You run through the show as many times as you can before it opens and the director gives you notes.

Hell week is when you spend more time with your director and castmates than with your family.  It is when you spend more time at rehearsal than at home.

I love hell week because I love theatre.  It is fun.  I enjoy the long rehearsals of having fun and spending time with awesome people (because honestly, once you hang out with thespians, normal people just aren't as fun anymore).  I love hell week because you get to see all elements of the show come together to create the show.  All you're doing is touching things up before the finished product goes up in front of an audience.

I love thinking about two months ago, or however long ago you started rehearsals and seeing how far you all have come since then, how much work you've put into this project, how much closer you all have grown by doing this together.  Tomorrow will be exactly two months since our very first rehearsal for Once On This Island, and those two months have just flown by.

I'm a senior this year, and I keep getting sad thinking about these things today.  It is not my last show-- I am in The Diviners at our brother school (because I go to an all-girls school)-- but it is my last musical, my last show with a lot of these people, and my last show with this director, Mr. Bozanich.  He is the best director I know and he has helped me to grow so much in his shows.  I'm extremely grateful that I've gotten to work with him these past few years and had amazing experiences and made unforgettable memories because of him.

Before every single performance, Mr. B tells us three things that I will never forget: watch all your firsts, have big fun, and do something that you can be proud to call good theatre.  Two weeks from today is closing night.  Two weeks from today, I will have heard those words for the last time.

These next two weeks are going to be bittersweet.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

I'm alive!

Wow, that's crazy, it's been nearly two and a half months since I last made a blog post!  I have good reason, though: I've been extremely busy lately.  Yes, I will admit that some of that "busy" was actually countless hours of scrolling through Tumblr or reading fanfiction or watching things on Netflix, but most of it was made up of college apps, AP homework, and rehearsals for the spring musical.

I hadn't mentioned yet that I got a part in the spring musical, Once On This Island!  I am a proud member of the ensemble (and if you are familiar with the show, I am a minion of Agwe, the god of water).  No, I did not get the part that I had originally wanted, but I was called back so that made me really happy, and one of my best friends got the part and I am extremely happy for her!  We've been rehearsing daily for a little over a month now, and I just realized that we open one month from today!  When I say just realized, I mean that quite literally-- I looked at the time and noticed the date and we open exactly one month from today; so crazy.  I've been having loads of fun through rehearsals, learning all the music and dances and spending time with some of my closest friends.  It's quite a blast!

Well...that is the most interesting thing that I have been up to lately.  I could bore you with grueling details of doing AP homework or my suffering through all my classes, but I'm sure you don't want to hear that.  I'm just really excited that it is the last semester of my senior year of high school.  I can't wait to go to college.

I promise I will try to post updates a bit more frequently, if I have anything interesting to say! Until next time.