Whimsic Alley!

I went to Whimsic Alley today and it was, for lack of a better word to describe it, magical!

We went there in the morning, and the place is just filled with Harry Potter merchandise!  On one side there's different clothes, like robes and pullover sweaters, vests and cardigans, and they have colors for each of the houses on them.  They've also got the basic hats, scarves, and ties.  I saw house socks, too.  Those were cool!  And there was an entire room of hats!  There was the Sorting Hat, McGonagall's hat, the normal Hogwarts pointed hat, they even had Luna's lion hat!  I really want to get Luna's hat next time I go, it was awesome.

On the other side as lots of toys or games and books and quills & ink and some just...random things!  But they were all fantastic.  They had a lot of things from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, like Pigmy Puffs and other stuffed animals.  And in the book section, there weren't just Harry Potter related books.  They had other books that one might like if they're fans of the Harry Potter series, so I thought that was cool (except for the fact that they had a bit of Twilight-- not good).

I expected the candy section to have more Harry Potter candies than it actually did.  I remember you used to be able to find all sorts of Potter candy like Fizzing Whizbees, Ice Mice, Acid Pops, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, etc.  Now, all there ever seems to be is Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some Bertie Bott's but I loved getting Chocolate Frogs!  And Fizzing Whizbees and Acid Pops were quite good too!  However, I tried Drooble's once and it made me gag.  But it would be nice to be able buy more than just Bertie Bott's beans.  I was surprised we couldn't find anything besides that at Whimsic Alley.

The reason we had gone there is because my 17th birthday was a few weeks ago and I haven't had a party yet, so I'm going to have a Harry Potter themed party (because you know how big the 17th birthday is in the wizarding world), so we got little things to put in gift bags like Bertie Bott's and temporary scar tattoos.

Aside from those, my sister bought the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (or something like that), my mum bought a little notebook, and I bought a pair of radish earrings!  I'm wearing them right now.  Oh, and my sister and I got temporary Dark Mark tattoos!  Now I know where to get that again, because I'm going to be Bellatrix for Halloween!

Here's a picture of those radish earrings, if you can see.  Sorry, I look bad.

If you're ever in the LA area, you should definitely check out Whimsic Alley.  It's a fantastic place to go for any Harry Potter fan!

Books read: 14
Disneyland trips: 9
Current song: none, I'm listening to the sound of drums, like the Master could hear all the time.  I've been listening to them for about an hour and still feel, for the most part, normal, but it's getting a bit irritating.  I want to see how long I can last.

This is a Rose Tyler appreciation post.

Rose Tyler was companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors on Doctor Who, and one thing I can't stand is seeing hate on her.

One thing I love about Rose Tyler is that she shows that anyone ordinary can become someone extraordinary.  Before the Doctor came into her life, she was just a normal shop girl (either a high school dropout, or she just never continued onto university, I can never remember).  Nothing interesting ever happened in her life.  Then, one day, a strange man took her hand and told her to run.  He saved her life.  Then, she saved his life.  She continued to travel with the Doctor and her life was changed so much.  She continually risked her life for the planet, or for the Doctor.

Rose was such a great companion because she has a big heart and is very trusting and dedicated and determined.

One moment that stands out at me, displaying her big heart is in "Love and Monsters".  She and the Doctor go looking for the boy (whose name I cannot remember) to yell at him because he upset her mum, but once she sees that he's hurting, she forgets that she was angry with him and sits with him and tries to comfort him instead.  Another moment I can remember is in the episode "Dalek".  Rose has no idea what a Dalek is or how evil it is.  All she knows is that it's in pain and she wants to help it.  Even after she sees what it can do, she still wants to help it.

When Rose first met the Doctor, she trusted him without knowing much anything about him.  Sure, she questioned that trust at first, but soon she learned that she was right to trust him, and it grew even more as she got to know him more.

Rose is so dedicated to the Doctor, and she is determined.  An entire universe couldn't keep her away from him.  She wanted to find him, to get back to him, to travel with him again.  He told her it was impossible, that they could never see each other again, but she found away back to him.  And in the 2 years she was gone, he never forgot her.  I think that there's a part of the Doctor that will always love Rose.  He does have two hearts, after all!

Something that bugs me is when people say that Rose's only epic moment was when she absorbed the Time Vortex.  Yes, that was pretty badass, but was it really her only epic moment? I mean, do you not remember that time when she, killed Satan? No big deal or anything.  So to counter that opinion, I'm going to leave you a list of extremely brave or incredibly badass Rose moments that I can think of off the top of my head.

1. She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, absorbed the Time Vortex, disintegrated the Daleks AND their emperor, and lived. That BAMF.
2. In the very first episode, "Rose", she risked her life to save this man she hardly knew.
3. In "The Empty Child", she witnesses London being bombed by Germany hanging from a barge balloon (hah, alliteration!).  Albeit, that may be a bit more of a damsel-in-distress moment, but it's pretty badass that she didn't die!
4. This may be seen as more of a funny moment (I find it absolutely hilarious every time I watch it), but when Rose stands up to the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion".
5. WHEN SHE KILLS SATAN IN "THE SATAN PIT".  SERIOUSLY. HOW MUCH MORE BADASS CAN YOU GET?!
6. Also, in other parts of "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" when the Doctor is gone and Rose believes she may never see him again, but she still tries to put on a strong face and help be a leader for everyone on the planet.
7. In "Fear Her", when the Doctor is turned into a drawing, she's determined to get him back, and saves the day in the end.
8. In "Doomsday", Rose knows full well that she will never see her parents and Mickey again if she stays in her own universe to help the Doctor, where she could very well be sucked into the void, but she stays with him anyway.
9. Also in "Doomsday", she sees that the opening into the void is starting to close, but not all of the Cybermen and Daleks are gone yet, so she lets go of the super magnet thing to pull the lever back and keep it open to make sure every last one of the Cybermen and Daleks are gone, which leads to her getting stuck in the parallel universe.  (This is probably one of my personal favorite Rose moments.  It shows just how brave she is.)
10. WHEN SHE BLOWS UP A DALEK IN "THE STOLEN EARTH".
11. Oh, and she built that dimension cannon just to try and get back to the Doctor.

Wow, that list ended up being longer than I thought.  And that was just off the top of my head.

Basically, I love Rose Tyler.

I think this day 2 BEDA post is complete.  Sorry if you don't like Doctor Who.  I'm going to Whimsic Alley tomorrow, so I'll talk about that for day 3!

Books read: Still 14

Disneyland trips: 9 (I went today!)

Current Song: The Daleks - Doctor Who Soundtrack

Suddenly remembered it's BEDA! (Day One)

I randomly decided to come on and saw that Kristina Horner and Hayley Hoover had posted their BEDA day one posts and thought, "OH RIGHT, IT'S BEDA."  So...now I'm typing up this first blog post with 27 minutes to do so!  Let's see how this goes.

(EDIT: Skip these next few paragraphs because I don't start talking about semi-interesting stuff until then!)

So since the last time I've been here...my cousin got married so I went on a road trip to Oregon and was one of her bridesmaids, I turned 17, oh, and I met Matt Smith and Karen Gillan from Doctor Who!  I highly doubt you care about any of that, though.

Gosh, I really don't know what to talk about.  I was hoping that when I started typing, a brilliant idea would come into my mind and I'd leave everyone speechless with my incredible ideas, but this is just turning out to be crap so far.

School starts in 16 days and I still haven't really started any of my AP Literature homework.  I'm not too worried about that though because I like English and I'm good at English, so those assignments shouldn't take me too long.  I'm a little worried about AP Psychology though, because my teacher told us we have an essay due the first day of school but hasn't even given us a prompt or question or anything yet.  Though I did finish 8 pages, front and back, of notes and questions for that class just a few short hours ago.

I'm really sorry if you actually read this!  It was probably such a waste of time!  At least it's short, I suppose.  Ah, well, hopefully my posts will get better over the rest of the month.  Oh, I know! I can talk about doing BEDA!

I did Blog Every Day in April for the first time this year, so I decided to do August too!  It was a great experience because I challenged myself to write every day (albeit, I didn't really know what I was doing until the end of the month).  Hopefully this time around, I'll challenge myself more, and I'll try to come up with interesting things to discuss each day, even if I'm a little busy.  I'm really glad I've started doing BEDAs, and I'm also going to be doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year.  I hope that all of these will help me to become a better writer.

Okay, I suppose that last part was still pretty boring, but it will suffice.  I shall be back tomorrow with (hopefully) something more interesting! Ha, I'm done with 16 minutes to spare!

Books read: 14 (I'm not doing very well with this, am I?)
Disneyland trips: 8
Current song: none

I've recently become obsessed with Doctor Who.

You may know that already if you follow my Twitter or Tumblr because Doctor Who is all I've been talking about on both accounts for nearly two weeks.  (I even changed my Tumblr name to aimeepond!)  I watched all 6 (or 5 and a half) series of the show in about a week and a half.  I couldn't stop watching.  I just have a few opinions about the show that I'd like to talk about.

First, companion hate.  I don't get how people can hate any of the Doctor's companions.  I've seen a lot of hate on Rose Tyler, and I think that's completely ridiculous!  She's my second favorite companion (closely following Donna Noble).  I mean, obviously the Doctor thought she was fantastic, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted her to be his companion.  And he loved her.  You can't deny that he loved her.  He still loves her, I bet.  I talked about this a bit more in-depth on Tumblr already, so if you want, you can check that out.

Second, Martha.  Don't get me wrong, I love Martha. I just think it's a bit...odd, how she left.  All of his other companions that I've seen-- Rose, Donna, and Amy-- have said something along the lines of, "How can someone just go back to normalcy after having been out there and seen everything?" (I know none of them said exactly that, but they've all said something like that.  Just go with it.)  I thought Martha thought that at first, but she just...left.  I know she had a future in front of her and stuff, but she seemed like she would've been one to stay with the Doctor forever, if she could.  The only reason Rose left was because she got stuck in the parallel universe, and the only reason Donna left is because she can't remember anything or her brain will burn up and she'll die.  Amy hasn't left yet, but it doesn't seem like she'd want to.  Martha, she just left! I just don't understand that!

And third, series 1-4 compared to series 5 & 6.  Series 5 and 6 are so different.  It kind of doesn't even seem like the same show.  I mean, I still love it, it's just so different!  I mean, nothing's the same!  New Doctor, new companion, new TARDIS, new theme, and they haven't even mentioned any past companions.  I know that things have to change on this show, that's kind of one of the biggest concepts-- change-- I wish they would at least mention past companions.  I mean, not even 5 minutes into meeting Donna, the Doctor mentioned Rose.  That could be because he had said goodbye to her literally seconds ago, so maybe that's not the best example...  But he also told Martha about Rose. And when Donna came back, he told her about Martha, and still talked about Rose a bit.  I don't think Amy knows anything.  For all I know, she thinks she's the only companion he's had.  I think that's all that bothers me about series 5 and 6.  Other than that, they're fantastic, and I love Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (whom I'll hopefully get to meet on the 26th!)

Since I finished the show, I've been watching interviews and behind the scenes with the cast(s), reading fanfiction (Doctor/Rose is my OTP!), and listening to Trock.  So yeah, basically, I'm obsessed with Doctor Who!

Books read: 13
Disneyland trips: Uh, same as last time.
Current song: An Awful Lot of Running - Chameleon Circut

Pottermore

If you're a Harry Potter fan, I'm sure you've heard so much about Pottermore this past week, and have probably already seen the announcement and submitted your email. If you're not a Harry Potter fan, feel free to stop reading.

I live in California, so the announcement was at 4:00 AM for me.  I set my alarm for 3:50 and went on the computer.  As I watched the last few seconds tick down off the clock, I was so excited.  I don't think I've been that excited about anything since I was about to open my brand new copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows back in 2007.

After watching the video, I was a bit confused.  I was actually thinking, "That's it?"  It was so...vague and cryptic.  But I figured that Jo wouldn't start all this hype for something that turned out to be simply sub-par.  I knew there had to be something more to this "online reading experience" than she was letting on in that video.

When I got home from summer school today, I went on Tumblr, and saw all this new information about Pottermore that I hadn't seen last night/this morning, and now I'm getting a better idea of what Pottermore is all about.  The only things I'm a little worried about are Ollivander's and the Sorting Ceremony.

There are some Potter fans, like me, who already know what wand they have (holly and dragon heartstring, 12 inches). I don't know why I picked that, but I guess I just liked that combination.  I also took a quiz after I had chosen my wand and I got the exact same result.  And my friend Bianca asked me what my wand is, and when I told her, she said she somehow already knew that.  I know "the wand chooses the wizard" and all that, and I know that the wand Jo thinks I should have would probably be more accurate than the wand I think I want, but I'm quite fond of my current wand.  I didn't mean for that to rhyme.

If anyone at least likes the Harry Potter books, you're bound to know what Hogwarts house you're in.  Some are a bit unsure and declare themselves a "Slytherdor" or a "Ravenpuff", but I, like many others, have settled on one house: Hufflepuff.  Every single person in the entire Potter community probably has a slightly different idea of how the sorting works, what traits each house might prefer, etc.  There are so many different online sorting quizzes, which is why one might be placed in different houses when taking different quizzes.  I've gotten Gryffindor and Ravenclaw a few times, but the majority of the quizzes I've taken have said Hufflepuff.  But what if Jo's idea of who belongs in Hufflepuff (or the house of your choice) is completely different from what we think?  I've been a Hufflepuff for years, and I'm extremely proud of and loyal to my house.  I don't know what I'd do if I was somehow sorted into a different house.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid.  Maybe I'm still just over-thinking things, as usual.  I am really excited for Pottermore, and I will definitely be trying to get beta access on July 31, but I can't help but worry.  Ah, well, we'll find out soon enough.  I'm sure that, no matter what happens, this will be an amazing experience and a fantastic way to keep the magic of Harry Potter alive.

Books read: 13
Disneyland trips: 7
Current song: Forever and Always by Parachute

Something Old, Something New?

Today I saw the film, Something Borrowed, with my sister.  Now, I don't want this to turn into a blog to review movies (which it probably won't because I don't nearly go to the movies often enough), but there are a few things I'd like to say about this one.  I haven't read the book, and honestly I don't plan on it after seeing the movie-- it was good, but not great-- unless someone would like to convince me otherwise.  If you haven't seen the movie and plan on it, or want to read the book, and don't want spoilers, stop reading.  If you've already seen/read it or don't care about spoilers, read on, my friend.

First things first, I love John Krasinski.  As an avid fan of the television show, The Office, one of the main reasons I wanted to see this movie was because he's in it, and he did not disappoint.  I loved his character, Ethan, and he provided great comic relief.  I have one main complaint about this movie, though.  I thought Rachel and Ethan should have ended up together.  My sister didn't agree with me on this.  She said that the entire point of the movie was so Rachel and Dex would end up together, and I get that, but just because that was the point of it, doesn't mean it was the right decision.  I have a few reasons as to why I thought this:

1. Ethan was the only character that didn't irritate me.  Darcy was just this...annoying party girl who got whatever she wanted-- the type of girl that I don't particularly like.  Rachel and Dex were just stupid.  I know that Rachel's supposed to be the protagonist, but she could have at least told Darcy what was going on.  That might have made me feel a bit more sympathetic towards her.  Dex was being a douche for cheating on his fiance, I don't care if he's liked her since law school.  Ethan seemed to be the only one with his head screwed on straight.  He was the only one who thought it was the right thing to do to tell Darcy, or to make Dex decide.  And the fact that he was a writer and his character was played by John Krasinski were just extra things that made me like him more.
2. Ethan was the only one who seemed to really care about Rachel.  He told her to stop being a pushover and to stop letting Darcy get whatever she wanted and to make Dex decide.  He wanted her to do something for herself for once.  He wanted her to be happy.  I'm sure Dex cared about her too, but he did a pretty lousy job of showing it.  Rachel and Darcy were best friends, but Darcy didn't always act like it.  She seemed to not care about what Rachel said half the time, and it was like she just hung out with her due to an obligation.
3. My final reason is because Ethan is Rachel's best friend.  The person one ends up marrying should be a best friend: someone to trust completely and who cares about you and helps you.  Also, I always seem to be one to fall for her best friend, and it sucks, so whenever I see movies or read books, I'm always rooting for the best friend.

If you want to see this movie, I wouldn't discourage it.  It was good.  Just not amazing, and let's face it, there aren't too many amazing romantic comedies nowadays.  If you're not a fan of romantic comedies, or movies in general, I promise this will be my last post about a movie, perhaps until Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out (which, by the way, I saw the trailer for on the big screen for the first time and squealed!).

Books read: 12

Disneyland trips: 6

Current song: none

Summer Reading

Now that I'm out of school for summer, I will have much more time to read.  Just yesterday I finally finished The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan, and I'm still working on American Gods by Neil Gaiman, but I'm almost done. I can probably finish tonight.  I've also got, literally, piles of books on the floor of my bedroom just waiting to be read, and I'd like to read at least some of them before making another trip to the One Dollar Bookstore (aka heaven).  So, in no particular order, here is my list of books I would like to read this summer.  Books in italics are ones I'd like to reread.

• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (summer assignment for AP Lit)
• King Lear by William Shakespeare (summer assignment)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (summer assignment)
• Othello by William Shakespeare (summer assignment)
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
• Paper Towns by John Green
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
• The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I realize I probably won't be able to read all of these, because my summer is surprisingly quite busy.  However, if you have any recommendations of books to read, that would be highly appreciated, because I'm always up to add things to the list! Also, if there's anything on this list you wouldn't recommend I read for some reason, please let me know.

Happy summer!

Books read: 10

Disneyland trips: 6

Current song: White Dress - Parachute