Book of MINDO

sasorion@hotmail.com — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:57:07 GMT

There was a sale at Blockbuster today, so I grabbed a crap ton of dvds, including Fast and Furious, because I've arbitrarily come to like fast cars and dramatic gear shifting in my movies. So now I'm watching the first two movies on various, illegal sites etc.

Man, these movies are so full of gay subtext I kind of get a shock every time a lady appears on screen. That Paul Walker knows how to lay on the yearning blue gaze like a pro.

Although, I have to say I really liked the character of Letty in the first movie. She's kind of a badass.
And also, I love that they have rainbow racing-- a carefully chosen racer of a different ethnicity-- yellow, brown, black, and white. Though, natch, the white driver smokes 'em all.

Among my other purchases are Transporter 3 and 17 Again. Don't judge me!

eta: I keep seeing Chris Pine in the place of Paul Walker, and then I get sad every time I hear Walker's lame monotone. This movie needs to be remade with Chris Pine as Brian. Oh, please oh please oh pleeeeeeeeaaase.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:15:35 GMT

Hahahahahahahaha! What. What. WHAT IS THIS SONG. It's geniussss.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:41:47 GMT

Okay, so maybe like no one I know watches this show called 'White Collar', but I do or at least the pilot so far, and really really dug it, but anyways. Anyways.

Matt Bomer is gay and taken.

On behalf of all the straight girls and single gay men and all else who find hot men hot out there, I say "FUUUUUUUUUUCK."

Because this boy is goddamned beautiful, and at this point I don't care if the show runs down to crap (which it doesn't seem like it will), because I will watch it anyways for the gratuitous shots of his breathtaking ~~physique~~ baby blues and soft, wavy dark hair and heart-melting ~~physique~~ smirk and snazzy fashion sense.

My heart, it palpitates for him. Also, Mark Sheppard was in the pilot. I LOVE HIM he always seems so like, slightly evil and cranky and intelligently hot. Gnah.

Took Buddy to the groomer's this week. He had to have all his fur shaved. We try not to laugh too loudly in his presence. It makes petting him a lot less fraught with danger though, and he seems to be taking it in stride. Poor guy!

Also: I got my jury summons. I hope I don't get called in, and if I do, I hope I don't get picked, and if I do, I hope it's an interesting case at least.

My sisters have banished me from the living room so I won't jinx the Laker's game. It's ridiculously sad, and true; the last Laker's game I watched and they won, was in '96. And so I hie me and my bad luck far from televised games. Which is sad because I really love the Laker boys ;________; My sisters, they sound like they're having so much fun.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:07:35 GMT

Gleeeeeeeeeee.
Puck is hoooooooot.
I love Puck and Rachel together more than you will ever knowwwww theirloveissodysfunctional.
Sue. SUE!
Finn. Finn!

Kurt, baby, I love you so hard.

wine list

sasorion@hotmail.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:30:43 GMT

So I was digging through my stack of brochures and stuff (I generally keep all the ticket stubs and museum brochures/city maps, etc. from places I visited) and found the list of wines that we tasted for my Food and Culture class in Rome. I thought I'd list them here for easy reference:

We went to a beautiful little enoteca (wine bar) called Vino Passami l'olio ('Pass me the oil' literally) and had four wines, from lightest to richest (in other words, white to red)

1. Cantine: Enrico Serafino
Wine: white, Cortese di Monferrato, DOC, 2005, Piemonte (Langhe), 11.5%
Price: 12 euro (last year, roughly $18)

2. Cantine: Colli di Castelfranci
Wine: rose, Aglianico Rosato, DOC, 2006, Campania (Irpina), 13%
Price: 18 euro (~$27)

3. Cantine: Punta Nogal
Wine: red, Carmenere, 2005, Chile, 14%
Price: 14 euro (~$21)

4. Cantine: Terre da Vino
Wine: Passito, DOC, 2005, Piemonte, 11.5%
Price: 22 euro (~$35)

I don't remember much my impressions on these wines-- they were all good, but I liked the Monferrato. The red was supposedly v. good, but that's what the general consensus was; I myself don't like red in general v. much.

The Passito was my favorite because it's dessert wine and you eat it with cookies. It's very very very sweet, and you dip biscotti in it. Yum.

---
In other news, my dad taught me to drive stickshift, and I was able to drive home from where we were practicing in one piece. WOOHOO. I think I'm going to stick with my automatic for now though, LOL.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:44:51 GMT

Went back to Oxy this week...! Not in a totally creepy, stalker alumni way, since I actually had some errands to run there. Suffice to say, I have my letter of rec, two transcripts, and an alumni card in my possession now. Productive!

It was v. reassuring to talk to my advisor about grad school, and to know she was willing to sit down and help with the process when I'm ready to apply. I think each time I talk about grad school with someone, I feel a little more prepared to plan for it. Now, I just gotta psych myself for a lifetime of academic competition and teaching?

Also had breakfast with Jenny, visited yearbook, and had lunch with Dawn and Anna at Black Cow, which I wished I wasn't so unhungry for, because that place is bomb. I missed my yearbook babies-- am hoping to stop by one of their later deadlines, and be officially creepy alumni. Is it still creepy if I bring food?

ALSO. ANTS INVADED ARCHIE, MY CAR. My car is named after a cockroach. WHY DO ANTS ATTACK ROACHES? I Raided the shit out of the doors, so hopefully they'll stop eating me alive when I'm stuck in traffic. Owch.

Have started watching Supernatural again, because I've climbed back on the bandwagon to better ogle Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles ~~make goopy eyes at each other~~.

Today though, I watched Where the Wild Things Are with my sister, and it was soooo goooooood ahhhhhhhh. I love it love it love it so massively and expansively in my heart!

I thought the kid playing Max was a little older than I'd imagined, but he was fantastic, and crazy, and imaginative in that special way of little rowdy boys. And although Caroline Keener only had like, five minutes screen time, oh, I loved her I loved her so! And the Wild Things themselves! ♥ like whoa. It's a beautiful movie, and so bittersweet and funny and painful at the same time. The OST was fantastic too; Karen O did really good job with it. I'm going to add it to my amazon wishlist now.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:39:46 GMT

Drop Dead Diva finale last night was like "!!!" and then "!!!!!!!" and a lot of "!!!?!?!?!" by the end.

I dearly loved Tony and Grayson tapdancing and playing magicians in court.

And I really really need an icon of "Team Tony... Team Grayson... Team WTF?" basically. (Personally I am allllll Team Tony)

Also visited LACMA today with the Priscilla. Today was a Free Admission! day, when usually it's about $10, so God bless un-pc, but very federal holidays. The Priscilla and I ran around the whole museum, got chastised multiple times by the security guards, received an extra entree in our lunch, and were generally very silly. It was fun! I've never been before, so I loved it, especially the Japanese woodblocks and Islamic collection-- incredibly beautiful. I also loved the Latin American art gallery-- the design was v. cool.

Unfortunately, we missed the Pompeii exhibit by less than four days, and the Chinese collection as well as the costumes and textiles section were closed for renovations. And I also didn't find the prints or photo galleries. But hey, now I have an excuse to come back!

Peace out, says fat Ganesha. I wish I could rub his tummy too, but that would probably bring the Wrath of Conservators down on my head.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:08:03 GMT

Today, I transferred all my music from my laptop to my external hd and freed up about 35gb. MLIA!

I also had a very serious discussion with P about how valid a vampire or immortal would be as a primary source in historiography. It was very, very serious, and thoroughly evaluated.

Today was well spent frantically doing last-minute shopping for my sister's Homecoming. Woohoo! Her very first dance.

Meanwhile, my other sister went to a dance conference thing, and attended a class taught by Kherington Payne. And apparently, she met her, took pictures with her, and said "You're so pretty!" to her before running away.

HAHAHAHAHAHA omg my baby sister... so creeper... I love it.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:52:08 GMT

My friends, today marked a new era for our family.
For as my sisters and I discussed loudly and most excitedly a youtube video, my father walked by, stopped, looked at us with his faint scowl, and most deadpan and plain did say, "Oh. Em. Gee."

My friends, this is most epic.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:17:53 GMT

OOOHHHHH SHIT MIKE CHANG IS A B-BOY OOOOOOOOHHHHHH WHAT WHAT.

ETA: why why WHY am I always reduced to this undignified use of capslock when discussing this show?! Frankly, it's embarrassing.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:38:53 GMT

Huh.

I've come to the sudden and not altogether unwelcome revelation that Lady Gaga is awesome.

I went out and got The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk from B&N today. It's a book I've been meaning to get for awhile now-- originally for my thesis, but since it's totally the wrong period and subject matter, passed on it. But now I've got it, and am right up reading it.

It's another history book written by a reporter, like The Zookeeper's Wife which I liked. And that's probably what makes these books so much fun to read. Sure, the cover makes it look like another historical text, but inside it's all touches of humor and dashing metaphors and high drama highlighted with clever turns-of-phrases.

Basically, I am having a rollicking good time with the first couple chapters. I mean, the 'Great Game' is the Western Europe term for what is essentially the 19th century version of the Cold War. It details the events and characters that embroiled Russia and Great Britain in an intense and high-stakes affair of espionage in Central Asia. Hopkirk chooses to follow the individual players in this time period, rather than describing the situation and events holistically. He attempts to give both the British and Russians an impartial treatment, which I appreciate, though not really believe (Hopkirk is, after all, British himself, and his word choices are problematic, as shown later). He also has a great sense of pacing and dramatic flair in his writing, which I also enjoy; what that takes away though, is the impartial treatment towards, well, the Central Asian crowd.

Understandable, if Hopkirk is writing a book on imperialization of Central Asia from the European point of view, that certain perspectives are skewed. I get it. And yet, there's a layer of orientalism in this that troubles me a lot. The natives of this vast area is portrayed (so far) as vicious, xenophobic, mercurial, and-- dare I say it?-- savage. Petty. Oriental. Even the Russians, whom Hopkirk claims to be portraying with impartiality, is implied to have been heavily influenced by Asian (Mongolian) culture, and therefore not quite cultured. He says, in fact, "Cut off from the liberalising influence of western Europe, moreover, the people became more and more eastern in outlook and culture."(Hopkirk 13)

From Hopkirk's writing, it seems like the British were paragons of enlightenment and sophistication.

For example, this sentence especially, stopped me in my tracks: "The Shah was delighted by the persuasive Malcolm, who was exceptionally adept at oriental flattery, and even more pleased with the sumptuous gifts he bore, each carefully chosen to appeal to Persian cupidity." (Hopkirk 31)

Oriental flattery? Persian cupidity? What? Hopkirk is probably trying to say that Malcolm, who was fluent in Persian, was familiar with Persian culture and social traditions, therefore making a more culturally sensitive and therefore better impression on the Shah than a clueless, arrogant, uninformed British diplomat might have done. The way Hopkirk says it though, you go away thinking 'Wow, those silly Persians! How foolish! How simple! So easily swayed by pretty shiny things and pretty words! What materialistic children these people must be, to be fixated such on extravagance and decadence!' and thus perpetuating a problematic and damaging stereotype that the Eastern hemisphere deals with to this day.

Look, I'm not saying the opposite isn't true. That the Central Asian peoples depicted in the book weren't incapable of feats of betrayal or cruelty, because they were. Just as the British and Russians were as well. And as for occidentalism, I'm not saying it doesn't exist, because it does! I certainly did enough reading of occidentalist materials for my comps, but I'm disappointed seeing it in Hopkirk's writing. For one, Hopkirk has the advantage of living in a modern age-- this book was published in the early nineties, when such attitudes have been identified as problematic. For another, Hopkirk is considered a specialist of Central Asia and Middle East, and has traveled there extensively. There's no real reason for his depictions to run towards demeaningly orientalist, except for his own British-centricity.

There's no reason for me to stop reading this book-- I spent $18 on it after all, and besides the British-centric attitude, I'm enjoying it a helluva lot. After all, I see worse on television all the time. It's just-- oh, I had high hopes for this book, and all. I'm less interested in the British and Russians, because we see these figures and attitudes played out in so many other places and eras, but Central Asia hasn't been dealt with with the same attention and scholarship. Is it so much to ask for that Central Asia, hell, all of the so-called 'Orient' (a term as nebulous and contested as the 'Middle East', by the way) be treated with a touch more sensitivity and care? We know about the British and the Russians, but we know next to nothing about Central Asia. What good does it do any of us to be treated to stereotypes and careless generalizations and casual dismissals when trying to learn more about this area?

So, Hopkirk is an entertaining writer-- I feel like I'm reading a Victorian-era, James Bond-ish story instead of a dry historical text-- but he's also careless in his portrayal of the extremely important character of Central Asia. It is a disappointment, so far, and I hope it's the only one.

Also, he lacks footnotes. Ugh.

Also, I didn't mean for this post to get so out of hand?

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:48:16 GMT

But this? This single image encapsulates everything that I love about Glee's boys (except Artie's missing. It's okay. It's the spirit of it that counts)

Kurt's Blue Steel expression. Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford's stank face. Finn's utter adorkable, totally oblivious glee! Look at Puck he's like an ugly angry cat. HOMIGOD I JUST. I. I LOVE THIS SHOW. AND THIS SCREENCAP IN PARTICULAR.

It is perfection.

Parents are back from their trip. In like, half the afternoon, our house has been set to rights. I am both impressed and dismayed.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:35:41 GMT

Teeheehee.

So, a new set of shops opened up on the street corner of the mall parking lot. Mostly, they are food places: we now have a Chipotle, a Red Mango, and a Panera bread among other smaller stores in the Heights. I love me some Panera, but man, that place is pricey. A couple days ago when I picked up a salad and a drink for my sister, the total was about eleven bucks. Eesh. However! Their ice chai tea latte is bomb.

My license plates haven't come in yet... I'm going to give them one more week and then make my own. I wonder if I can buy one of those novelty ones in the tourist shops and use them as replacements? Would that not be awesome? I actually saw someone's license plate as being 'MWEEEEE' the other day. I wish I'd taken a picture, because, seriously, seriously?

The Broadway Mary Poppins is coming to the Ahmanson Theatre through fall. My sister's already seen it on her field trip, but my mom and I are planning to go watch it, among the reasons being, oh, my favorite choreographer ever the inestimable Mr. Matthew Bourne having choreographed the production. Remember him? The all-male Swan Lake, the crazy restructured Nutcracker, the modern-dance Dorian Gray...

I can't stop listening to Lady Gaga's 'Paparazzi', which is made worse after Patricia informed me that the nickname for the current pope is 'Papa Ratzi' and therefore altering the frankly stalker-vibe of the song to a religious-fanatic stalker-vibe.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:56:46 GMT

Okay, who needs a job when you get to play mom to two younger sisters with totally different schedules? I'm more tired on weekends shuttling them around to their various classes and activities than on weekdays. I've decided I never want to be a mom now, ever, until they invent transport beams or whatever.

I'm wondering a bit now if I haven't been very stupid this whole summer. Maybe I should run away to Taiwan-- I am kind of needing to get out of here. I miss being away from home, if that's strange. And now, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have applied directly for graduate school. Sometimes, when you feel like your whole life is built on miniature regrets, it's hard to convince yourself that the next step is worth taking. I've got to bust out of this mentality.

What do you want to be when you grow up? By now, I have completely lost sight of the answer.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:50:53 GMT

I've said it a million times already before, but it bears repeating. Glee rocks my world, and it could rock yours too.

Picture this: boy. In a football helmet. 'Single Ladies'. It does not get any better oh wait it does but I won't tell you what's better than a football player dancing 'Single Ladies'.

But come on, people. You know what I'm talking about.

Eh, I am a bit meh on the new side story, regarding a certain love triangle~~square, pentagon, and whoever else is in love with Finn~~, but I'll withhold judgment.

Also, guys! Check out new glee member who is ASIAN, on the FOOTBALL TEAM and apparently SINGS. Mad props, guys. That's boss. Two Asians, hell yes!

Side note: I went and borrowed the sequel to Havemercy today, called Shadow Magic and to say I enjoyed the hell out of it is an understatement.

Summary:

Almost immediately after Havemercy ends is when Shadow Magic begins. Again, we have four viewpoints: the Ke-Han prince Mamoru, his bodyguard Kouje, and two of the Volstov magicians that are part of the diplomatic envoy, General Alcibiades and the slightly insane but always fabulous Caius Greylace. I'd also like to point out that there is no teh gay in it, but subtext and UST abounds.

Ke-Han is still reeling from the events of the previous book, and to make it worse, the Emperor has committed ritual suicide, leaving his elder son Iseul to ascend the throne and deal with the envoy. The diplomats, consisting mostly of magicians, arrive early in fact, before the royal household even has time to finish their period of mourning.

Younger prince Mamoru is the gentle, kind, and benevolent, devoted to his brother and the country. His older brother the emperor, is kind of nuts. The evening of Volstov's arrival, after the first dinner, is when the emperor decides to assassinate his brother. Luckily, retainer extraordinaire Kouje decides he's way more faithful to his young prince, overhears the conversation, and whisks the prince out of the palace in disguise as a woman. Yes, the prince proceeds to spend about two-thirds of the book masquerading as a girl. HaHA. The two of them are escaping with a remote fishing village in mind, but their journey reveals to them a path that is more than they expected.

Meanwhile, General Alcibiades, a grumpy, country rustic bear of a man and Caius Greylace, who is quite possibly one of the most entertaining mildly insane characters I've read, become embroiled and entangled by the snarls of diplomacy. They are forced to deal with the missing prince, on top of trying to eke out a peace treaty, despite knowing the Emperor to kind of being a rat bastard. Lots of shit happens. Alcibiades kind of barrels his way through all sorts of cultural taboos and doesn't really care. Caius finds all this chaos terribly amusing, and helps orchestrate a lot of it, actually. They become a really odd pair of frenemies (well, Caius immediately, like within the first couple paragraphs of his perspective, decides to be bff with Al. Al doesn't like and frankly is kind of disturbed by the kid. They still get along like a house on fire.)

Judgment?

So basically, I realized I loved this book about mmm, a couple pages in. There's a lot more fantasy, and no steampunk at all, which is a little sad, but the trade off is an incredibly more detailed and realized world than the one in Havemercy. Perhaps it's because one half o the perspectives are peripatetic (peregrinating, errant... like my GRE words?) and so the world becomes so much more... lived in. The minor characters that pop up are a treasure-- I loved the roguish Kichi and Jiang, as well as the sharp-eyed Aiko, saucy Josette, and indomitable Lord Temur, and they all interact very well with the primary narrators.

I found this book so much more engrossing, right from the start-- perhaps because we already know what's going on, or perhaps because it starts off at a shared location before splitting into two story lines. The cohesive start held my attention better, perhaps, or maybe this sort of action vs. political intrigue was more of my taste. I really can't pick a favorite perspective- I'd thought I wouldn't like Mamoru very much, but actually he was really fun to read. What completely made up my mind about this was the fact that I wasn't looking forward to one perspective over any others. I read all of them without feeling forced to skim through certain parts.

Overall, this book is a lot more streamlined than Havemercy, which was dark and fast and edgy, but uneven. Shadow Magic is a lot more cohesive and together, despite the two storylines. Like in its prequel, the world is realized in a vivid way, but because half of the story spends so much time traveling and interacting with it, it is a bit more defined and clear, in my own mind at least. At times, I was reminded of those Chinese wuxia series-- those dusty, city scenes and country roads and loud street vendors.

In addition, this book was very funny. Alcibiades and Caius are hilarious together-- their antics and the way they poke at each other (esp. Caius)! Funny! Endearing! Also, Mamoru and Kouje eventually loosen up to reveal good humor and friendly banter. Oh, the things I love about this book.

The only thing that bothered me really was the narrow focus on Al and Caius-- aside from two other characters, they don't interact very much with their own diplomatic team. Strikes me as a tad and unrealistic, but eh. Not much diplomatic action effectively takes place through the course of the book anyways.

And while I do wish we had seen a little more of Ke-Han magic, besides the one major working in the story, the fact that it wasn't a big presence made sense in that universe.

So overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a great follow up to Havemercy; the tone and narrative style is very different, the tense, claustrophobic feel is gone (not to say that having it is a bad thing; it worked v. well for HM), and is a lot more lighthearted (in character's, if not in plot). Yes, the plot is pretty standard, but the way these girls write it, you really don't care.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:49:55 GMT

ALISSA ALISSA ALISSA HAVE YOU SEEN THE GLEE EPISODE PROMO WHERE KURT DOES SINGLE LADIES IS IT NOT TOTALLY BOSS.

In other news, am done with the GREs for this round. Waiting on writing score to see if I'll retake it.

Have also caught up on my television guilty pleasures: Drop Dead Diva, my chick-flick romcom cliche and Merlin my terribly anachronistic, totally ridiculous, awkwardly plotted but completely beloved like a small retarded puppy sci-fi show.

Also read Havemercy last night, whose authors are, like Cassie Clare and the indomitable Sarah Rees Brennan, of the internet-writing-sensations ilk. Woohoo!!
It's a book that is far from perfect-- the writing quality is solid, but it was very up and down in terms of plot and etc. It also has teh gay mage in it, as well as-- and this is the important part-- metal dragon riders who fight in wars. So it's kind of like the snazzy, edgy, but rough-around-the-edges bastard child between Sarah Monette's Melusine and Naomi Novik's Temeraire, leaning considerably more to the Monette side.

I read a couple reviews of this book before I went and got it, so I went in kind of prepared to see the flaws and be blown away anyways.

Summary:
Four different characters cycle through telling their perspectives. In the country of Volstov, with a European, steampunkish vibe, they have long been at war with the neighboring country Ke-Han, a sort of Asian-inspired setting. Both countries employ magic in war, but on the Volstov side, they have the advantage of giant machine dragons, made with magic and manned by riders who because of their status get away with pretty much anything short of murder. Or in this case, insulting a diplomat's wife. Cue group of crude, arrogant, swaggering young daredevils, and etc.

Royston and Hal form one side of the plot, and Thom and Rook the other. Royston is a magician-in-exile for being teh gay with a conservative ally's crown prince, and Hal is a country bumpkin who is distantly related to him via marriage. They meet when Royston gloomily troops to his brother's country estate in disgrace. Through idyllic walks in the countryside and intelligent conversation, they fall sweetly in love.

Thom and Rook, on the other hand, are two characters up against each other from the start. Thom is a university student writing a social anthropological thesis on the Dragon Corps, and Rook is the unofficial king of the Corps' fourteen members (besides the chief). When the Corps rudely insult a diplomat's wife of the same conservative country mentioned above, the king decides that punishment will take the form of sensitivity training, given by Thom. Basically, Thom gets to give them etiquette lessons and anti-sexual harassment training. Rook is not happy with this,and neither is Thom, actually, especially since the former leads the rest of his compatriots in gleefully making his life miserable.

Throughout the story, relationships develop and change between these two pairs-- Royston and Hal's for the better, and Thom and Rook's for the increasingly twisted and kind of unhealthy until the end when they both start coming to terms with their bond. When the war between Volstov and Ke-Han come to a head, all four end up working together to save their country.

Judgment?

I honestly was bored for almost a third of the book-- Royston and Hal didn't really cut it for me-- their storyline was simply a romance, which is fine, but rather thin on plot, and a little boring. It didn't help that I kept inadvertently comparing Royston with Felix Harrowgate from Monette's series, and not really coming up with any reasons to like a gloomier, milder version of the gay urbane wizard-in-disgrace. While Hal I liked because he was very sweetly written, again I wasn't much captivated. They just did not do anything of importance, besides think longing thoughts of each other, and read books. While Thom and Rook had both darker and funnier stories to tell, nothing solid had happened that made me go 'yes! That's boss'.

At one point, I went 'this is ridiculous; I am not enjoying this half as much as these reviews have said I would!' and right when I turned the page, BAM. That was when the first description of a dragon raid took place around page 180~ and finally, the whole book clicked into place. I was like 'YES. METAL DRAGONS. FIGHTING. FLYING. YESSSSSS.' It wasn't that I didn't like the first half-- it was just a lot of exposition before any action began, a lot of character-heavy writing that worked on some parts, and didn't on others. But once the war between Volstov and Ke-Han start up in earnest, the plot picks up speed.

I will not squeal about the various spoilers (there's nothing actually very spoilerish about the plot- the biggest revelation is kind of a subplot actually. In fact, the secretive king and his secretive ways I felt was not in fact, because of a very shocking secret. It was more of incompetence.) but I will say that this book had an immensely satisfying ending that will probably have me smiling in a sappy, teary, hopelessly dopey way every time I think of it.

I do wish there were a hundred more times dragons in this story, because Havemercy certainly is a character. She's sarcastic and brash and gives as good as she's got. Rook and Havemercy interaction was a lot of fun to read. The fight scenes were incredibly fun to read; there were not enough of them!

One thing besides the simplistic plot and generally rarefied details that I didn't like much was the lack of a strong (as in character-written, not necessarily personality) female persona. Understandable, since half the story at least, is in an extremely masculine-defined setting, but I do love me my fictional, well-written women. All the women portrayed here are pretty stock: shrewish conservative women or occupational prostitutes (I guess I could just say whores) or silly, lust-addled noblewomen, or mysterious magicians. It was my unfortunate little fantasy that the incredibly chauvinistic Rook gets taken down a notch by a woman, but ah, well. The closest that comes to happening is between Rook and his wonderful dragon Havemercy, who is actually gender neutral, but viewed femininely.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book, shortcomings and all. The relationships detailed are extremely well-done, especially the weird, twisted thing between Rook and Thom-- that was probably the lynchpin of the whole book for me.

I tend to nitpick a lot, even when I like something very much-- it is simply the way my mind works when faced with something I care to talk loads about.

In fact, after talking this whole book through with P, I've decided to go to the library tomorrow after dropping the kids off at school and grab the sequel. Wheee!

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:43:48 GMT

Oh, wow so hey when I wasn't looking, the new season of Merlin has started, and y'all know about me and my terrible terrible no-good weakness with completely bogus-yet-so-tragically-addictive tv shows.

Resisting though, because damn I am finding all sorts of ways to procrastinate and it isn't helping my GRE savvy at all. Thus, no Merlin! No googling Vegas hotel rates! No texting with teh best college buddies! No rereading books from my childhood! None of this 'hey, let's pretend to be productive and read CNN'! No more trawling through lj flist!

Seriously, la.

Mmm btw my Aunt Amy passed over a whole crock of her famous ground pork sauce (rou zhao) and I had a whole bowl of it with noodles for lunch. Ohgod, ten thousand pounds right there but so good. I've been meaning to get her to teach me the magic of her cooking for ages... it needs to happen soon.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:35:50 GMT

A weekend separates me from the GREs. I had a minor panic attack yesterday, when my score plunged pretty drastically on a practice test, but I'm just going to study and do the best I can. And if I don't do well, then I can try again later. It's not a big deal, right??!

In any case, any students want a discounted ($29.90) Windows 7 upgrade? My oxy email still works... I'm still debating whether or not to grab it, hm.

Parents are out of town for a couple weeks. I officially hate being sister-chauffeur. And I'll be making dinner when the leftovers run out. I NEED MEAL PLAN IDEAS, ESP. SINCE I'M A CRAP COOK.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:41:23 GMT

Glee: did I not say Mark Salling is a sexy sexy beast? I SAY IT AGAIN. He is a sexy sexy beast. Who can siiiiiiiing. Mmmmm. Of course he'd be the pool boy, of course. I'm so glad he is singing. Also, Matthew Morrison is ridiculously adorable all boy-banded up.

Also, lol Josh Groban.

ALSO, VICTOR GARBER. Papa Bristow! Is going to law school! And he's in a musical! This is like, four shows in one: Alias, Music Man, Legally Blonde, and Glee. Basically, most genius combination ever. If they ever come out with "Gay or European" while dancing around in flack jackets and tap shoes, I'm going to implode from the sheer awesome.

I don't think I've ever appreciated bowties as much as I have in that forty-three minutes of brilliance.

And Vocal Adrenaline covering Duffy is genius.

omg I hardcore love Kurt and Mercedes. That girl can bust out amazinggg.

BASICALLY THIS SHOW IS GENIUS. IF YOU AREN'T WATCHING IT, WHY THE HELL NOT?!

sasorion@hotmail.com — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:37:35 GMT

Oh Patrick Swayze. We all knew it was coming, but it doesn't make your passing any less sad.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:24:19 GMT

After watching

MTV Shows

, I just have this huge urge to send Taylor a pint of Ben & Jerrys and chick flicks. And maybe some polish for the Moonman. Poor girl. I honestly don't know how anyone can hate on Taylor; it's like kicking malnourished, amputee puppies! It's like eating Bambi!! Kanye, you just kicked a puppy-farm of starving, legless puppies and ate Bambi. You dick.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:47:32 GMT

BIG NEWS.

A Very Potter Musical soundtrack is up for download here.

Seriously, friends. If you have any sense of humor at all and knowledge of the Harry Potter books, you will watch this, love it, download it, and SING A FREAKIN' LONG. It helps that the songs are genuinely well-written, and the cast is way talented.

This is probably one of my favorite things of year 2009. Besides my diploma.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:12:53 GMT

The latest news on Disney's Rapunzel, as reported by the lovely people at Rotten Tomatoes has a couple hints to the reworked plot:

"...In Disney's version of the story, a teenage Rapunzel (with 70 foot long hair) escapes from the castle where she's been imprisoned since infancy. She's aided by a bandit (to be voiced by Zachary Levi, star of NBC's Chuck) as they are both chased by Rapunzel's captor."

Paired with the gorgeous aesthetics of that pervy old Fragonard's 'The Swing' and all in all, I'm pretty excited about it. Girls rescuing themselves and hightailing it out of there with men of disrepute sounds like an awesome time to me. Though, they've replaced Kristin Chenoweth with Mandy Moore. Eh. We'll see how that goes.

Also, you will see at the top of the page that the newest Pirates movie has been announced. I'm interested in seeing a storyline without Elizabeth and Will, but at the same time I'll miss their ridiculous, bodice-ripping romance on the high seas. I hope Barbossa's still on, and I have teeny tiny hopes that Norrington could maybe possibly a little bit pull himself out of the depths of deathness? But that's me being over-optimistic.

sasorion@hotmail.com — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:00:16 GMT

I have a hunch I might be liking White Collar on USA. But, that's also what I thought about Burn Notice and Royal Pains, and while I like RP, I didn't finish the second ep of BN, and don't follow either of them very faithfully. But, criminal and law working together has always been a bulletproof cliche for me, so I am hoping it is excellent.

Sonic boom today! I thought someone had rammed a car into the house. But nope, just the Discovery landing at Edwards.

Spent my day shuttling my sisters around and rereading xXxholic in bed. Only ten days until I take the GRE-- neither my math nor my writing is up to my goals yet. I'm worried.

Have decided to name my car 小强 (Xiao3 Qiang2, "Little Strong", or if so inclined, Strong-chan), a Chinese nickname for the dreaded cockroach. Why? Because you can hate them, bake them, fry them, nuke them, beat them, poison them, crush them, boil them, ice them, chop them up, and boy motherfucker, they'll come out of it swinging. My vehicles need that joie de vivre with me behind the wheel. Long live 小强 (and me, for that matter =_____=;).

sasorion@hotmail.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:54:40 GMT

Glee.

Be still, my heart.

Oh, Glee, why must you steal my heart with such sparkling bedazzling sass and witty awesome? Now I shall never be able to disassociate boners and postmen.

Now that Dianna Agron is singing, here's hoping we see Mark Salling step up to the mike next week. Eeeeee!

Also, how about Rachel doing Rihanna back there?? HOLY CRAP I LOVVVVE IT.