Oh, boy you left me speechless

Song feature, courtesy of my dad: Two Is Better Than One, Boys Like Girls featuring Taylor Swift.

It’s a great listen. Go check it out, I’m positive that you’ll like it. (:

I’m digging the entire Glee OST right now. Their covers sound catchier and much more uplifting, probably because it’s a show about singing. But I love it! I haven’t listened to such musicals in a while so this was a pleasant change. Yes, Lea has an amazing voice. The whole show is filled with talent. Move aside, HSM!

Has anyone heard of this novel Hush, Hush, by Becca Fitzpatrick? I actually saw the book cover weeks ago in December while in Kinokuniya over the weekend. The cover (as always) captured my attention-it was on the featured display so naturally, I was intrigued. Because you don’t normally get such pictures, and the whole black and white contrast just makes it more classic and outstanding.

What else could you ask for? No I didn’t buy it, I’m not that impulsive even when it comes to books. But Cindi and I were curious (curious is a small word) so I decide to read it at the bookstore while she leafed through a book about Twilight-something about whether you love Jacob or Edward, LOL. I think we were being too loud on the jokes, because karma had to put two young Twilight aficionados very close by. If they did caught wind on us, I bet they would hate us to the core and [maybe] wish that the Volturi will come and stake us out. The mere fact of Caius coming to kill me is enough to make me get goosebumps.

Well, here’s my choice of defense (I’m obligated anyway):

TOP THAT, VAMPS.

I digress. Yet again.

Ok moving on to the contents of the book. I was rather let down by the beginning of the first few chapters, to be honest.

[Spoilers ahead if you don't wish to know]

The main character (Nora – EH) meets a new kid in Biology class. Doesn’t that sound too familiar all of a sudden? I mean, everyone’s liking Biology now. Even if it’s not, it does bring back some hints to another series I’ve read. Also, my sister and I’ve already wrung the gist of the story through the book cover itself.

I mean, if that book doesn’t point to Sebastian a fallen angel then that’s really something. Although the cover is bold, well we sort of guessed. I know Cindi was hoping for a vampire of sorts.

On a somewhat related note, Andrew said that Legion was a terrible movie. Not all angel-related movies are a match made in Heaven.

Edit:

Oh, and something assignment related for now: we’ve to do this self-portrait [again] for one of our subjects. And our lecturer said that it would be helpful if we get opinions from people whom we know. It’s a good idea because I don’t think I’m in a right position to really judge my own character that well. It would make me appear pompous and pathetic, so I should leave this to my friends. (:

Anything (I mean anything) that you wish to say, feel free to leave it in the comments, regardless of how long/short it may be. Treat this like an honesty meme. I would like to read your respective thoughts about me. I will try to incorporate the stuff mentioned into the portrait in a somewhat symbolic/metaphoric manner. This is going to be a challenge.

Gossip Girl; my take: introduction

I have decided to foray away from my usual blogging topics and venture into something else that I have never, ever written. In fact, once upon a time, I would never have dreamed on writing about this series. But trying out new things can be fun, albeit a bit awkward. So, I’m going to put on my [most pleasant] thinking cap on all things metropolitan, and get straight to the point.

So why Gossip Girl? I once said that the series annoy me to no end-and it still does. For one, drama amongst highly bred young adults really don’t interest me. But yes, I do watch it. And the more I follow this series (thank you, Cindi haha) there is a minute, almost invisible connection. And, watching shows with an open mind enables me to slowly break down and analyze. At least you get to use your brain. Why do I still watch this show? As an amateur in this whole GG universe, I admit that I have only read the prequel novel, and am only following the 2nd season as it runs on the local channel now. So this upcoming entries I’m going to blog is plainly through my perspective of the series. If I get some facts wrong, feel free to correct me. (:

GG has a drop-dead gorgeous cast, I will give them that. But that’s not the reason why. Lets admit it, GG has a stunning array of people, and of course a library-worthy stock of personalities. The people make you cringe and stare in awe. As the story suggests, they are gorgeous, beautiful people. And yes they are. They have us in their impeccably groomed fingers. GG ensnares us with characters that might or do bear a significance in our lives. Maybe it’s true. We fall in love with them, and of course, we relate to these characters. Hollywood has made it evident that beautiful people have huge, out-of-the-world problems.

Gossip Girl has the most cliche of story lines, but with an old fashioned plot that holds the audience and never gets old. We have the elite girls in the elite school, the handsome boys that double for more than just eye candy, and also, the few ‘rejects’ that usually come out in their own way and pulls the story together neatly. And sometimes, it would be them that steals the spotlight, eventually, at least. We have: (the main stars, at least.)

• the winsome, model-esque Serena, the epitome of the all-perfect girl.
• the coiffed and devious Blair, one who always sought control.
• Jenny, a girl who is only starting out.
• the amateur author, Dan.
• either a very confused or simply one who bottles up many emotions-Chuck
• and the troubled Nate who steps up a notch by sleeping with a ‘cougar’. 

One unique twist to this series is that in GG, there is a narrator. The many endeavors of the main cast are told through a mysterious blogger with the alias of Gossip Girl. She unravels a seedy affair or two with a lilting voice that sometimes bears an advice, or a sardonic mocking edge. In the novelization, Gossip Girl spills all on her blog, where readers flock and leave comments. Nothing is too scandalous for GG; wherever there are canards, she will always be there. 

I’m sure it’s not too assuming of me to say that the Gossip Girl books are quite the bestseller. GG would be so thrilled. But I’m not surprised at its success, on paper and on screen. Acts of misconduct has never been so gripping. 

The next post on this would be on the characters-I hope to give each of them a page each if possible. Wish me luck. (:

Bitter hearts.

Whoever said Crocs is heading for bankruptcy? They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. (: 

Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black’s latest Spiderwick offering, their repackaged edition of Spiderwick, is coming soon. And it’s mine. I’ve been waiting for some Spiderwick art from them for sometime, maybe a sketchbook of some kind. And it’s here!

And as well, my decision to get new shoes. Again. I mention ‘again’, as I have a bit of a shoe-run-in in the past. Due to my complete lack of experience in shopping as well as the fact that I didn’t know that I had high-arched heels, I admit that I wasted quite a bit of money back then. Lets just say, about three, two pairs? :/ Or maybe I can’t wear Vincci shoes. 

I’ve tried a couple of shoes from different boutiques. They all felt like heaven. Your feet will tell you that. It’s like they died and went to heaven. In theory. But I’m currently considering Crocs. The newspaper cited them as ‘bizarre gardening shoes’, presumably the holey ones that resembled cheese. Right now, I’m torn between colors. I have absolutely no idea. Okay, I’m torn between two designs.

 

screen capped from crocsideas.com

 

screen capped from crocsideas.com

Anyway, I would like your feedback. (: Which design, and which color? Would love to hear from anyone.

I just watched Reaper on Star World. That show is awesome. Apart from Sam working for the Devil, I like the humor okay. While my dad likes… Supernatural. Wow.

My book buying steps

I met up with Ethan, Wan Li, Kelvin, Nick and May Kuan last Friday. It was definitely a very enjoyable experience as this is our first meeting together so far this whole year. (: And there’s actually a couple of differences in my friends! Wan Li seemed to have gotten more… hyper. His English sounds better, actually! And that’s a compliment I’m paying in your direction! Ethan seemed to have lost his skills in using the chopsticks. Which naturally became the topic of laughter during lunch. Nick is still Nick. And same for Kelvin, except his hair is pretty much longer than what would be permitted back in high school. And Ethan doesn’t like seafood. Wow. May Kuan still likes Korean songs. (:

We must go out again! And maybe if Ethan is working already, we shall come over and bug you a little. Haha. Karaoke sounds like such a new thing to me. It’s almost like stepping onto new grounds that I don’t recognize. So you can say that I’m absolutely stoked to give it a try. But this doesn’t apply to everything, of course.

Thanks, Hwee Lynn for your generous gift of acrylics! Because the brand you bought is definitely quite expensive-I just found out weeks ago when I sauntered into an art shop in Ikano. How blur of me. Should have figured that out since my watercolor set is of the same brand. Have a great time in Singapore. (:

And yes, I’m going to give an insight into how I usually buy a book. It sounds lame, but yeah I figured that this boring blog of mine should probably have an additional boring or supposedly interesting fodder to fill up the space.

I’m so glad that good books don’t just spring up like sample sales (cue Shopaholic) because then I would be spoilt for choice. And I don’t have the liberty of buying whatever I lay my eyes on because that’s ridiculous. So I either heard of them from a source, or by a stroke of luck, happen to see it right there on the shelf. And that’s where I will go in depth in further explaining. Am I boring you yet? 

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But strangely, that is what I do when it comes to books. And lately it has intensified. If the cover art grabs attention, I will stop to take a look at it. If it still happens to attract up close, then I will flip behind to read the synopsis. Then slowly consider it-along with the price. And then I will give myself a week’s notice to see if I really want the book or not. 

Here’s a pointer: If you are a fussy one  for the jacket art/cover art as I am, you will find that American editions of certain books have more interesting covers than the United Kingdom. I don’t know why. This is simply my opinion. I personally prefer the US version of Harry Potter, although I only own the 6th book in that edition. Even everyone’s favorite dazzling saga Twilight is the same.

The American edition is the standard one everybody sees in bookstores-the simple black background with hands cradling an apple.

And this is the (UK) version I got-the only copy from Times after combing so many bookstores KL-wide.

My mum: Is this the book?

Me: The author’s name is there.

So, this was my inner raging expression but sadly can’t be conveyed due to the fact that the salesperson is looking at me.

A bit surprised/doubtful/annoyed with the ongoing fangirling.

So now, I normally do research online to see which covers are prettier. Gosh, I’m vain. Book-wise. I selected the illustrated cover for The Book Thief, which is still with Timothy. 

Wooooo, Death is coming, flapping and shrieking... Wait, that was Beedle the Bard.

This cover isn't as intriguing as the one above. Dominoes? Quite cool in the fact that it is a symbolic meaning to Death, but still, the other one wins.

 

I better go practice with my tablet now. Been putting it off the entire weekend, and I’m feeling guilty, which is so me. But on a goodbye note, I’ve got two Twilight-related news.

There are some Breaking Dawn Illustrations from the Japanese versions here. Why can’t we have illustrations too?

And Stephenie Meyer’s site has an announcement related to the upcoming movie New Moon. There are a couple of things that may not sound good-but hey. As long they don’t make it worse, I suppose?

You mean, there’s Book Four?

 

Just when you thought it ends at Book Three.

 

When Christopher Paolini mentioned Inheritance Trilogy, you would have thought that his books end in three volumes. I haven’t read Brisingr yet, but I sure hope that the upcoming installment isn’t just any excuse to whip up a money spinner. Because it’s going to be like a few movies that seemed to carry on with poorly done sequels after a superb movie. Strange, eh?

And yes, Twilight. I noticed that WordPress likes to link your blog to other WordPress blogs if your content is similar. So I was checking it and discovered that I was linked to this Twilight-related blog. Hmm. I still remember the day when I saw Twilight on the bookshelves in Kinokuniya and wondered if I should get it. A week later I realized that all such plans have to wait. Ditto with other bookstores. I mean, just how fantastic is this book? Not even Harry Potter stretched to this extent. I combed (practically) all the bookstores in KL until the humble Times gave me the UK version of the book.

I have never read a vampire novel before (but watched a few scary and weird vamp movies to boot) so I had no idea what are my expectations of such books. The first book went by okay. Second was quite annoying (because Jacob was bugging the non-Edward space with his werewolf pals) and the third was okay, but the fourth was disappointing. We want to see some unhappy endings, y’all. Yesterday Kimm and I were having this Twilight-fueled rant.

Here’s part of the gist of what we were talking about.

Uh-huh. And there is also:

Sorry, but it’s true! In a funny and weird sense. Somewhere along the way, I kind of lost the thrill. Owe that to the solar-powered, Vegas neon billboard that is Edward. The idea that vampires sparkle is quite hilarious, don’t you think? He’s bling by his own. Rappers like 50 Cent will be so proud. 

If you want to read a blunt-but-has-a-point review of the books, you can try this one. It made me laugh, and judging by that, it’s probably true.

I know. I is having fun with Photoshop. 

(:

Hiatus over

It’s sort of considered a hiatus, as this 5-day absence is really long for my standards, although I’ve a couple of things to mention here. But now I sort of forgotten what is it exactly I’ve been itching to blog.

Sod that.

I’ve been immersing myself in the great Tony Diterlizzi’s artwork. He is brilliant, so is Holly Black, hence their books are brilliant. Pardon the misuse of the word ‘brilliant’ and the fan-gushing, but it’s true! It’s one of the few novel series which I really adore and admire for the art and writing. I’m debating if I should get Tony’s book Arthur Spiderwicks Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. It’s filled with brilliant (again) watercolor illustrations. Or should I get the Okami book? Hmm, ruminations.

Breaking Dawn cover

Well, I’m not pre-ordering Breaking Dawn whatsoever, but I do happen to notice while browsing Amazon.com, the cover has been released! I don’t really know how to interpret it though… who knows chess well? (:

One more week to go

That’s right-one more blissful week of holidays before we’re plunged back into the stupor of college. Time does flies-even though you aren’t doing anything either. But I’ve been itching to write something lately-inspiration is still at my fingertips, the question now is what to write exactly. The internet connection is so slow on my Mac; you can imagine our Windows desktop pc. Terrible. It’s so nerve-wracking just to wait for the movie site’s page to load completely so I can book tickets. And the thing is people on the other side may have gotten there first. So it’s like this mad rush. But you haven’t seen nothing yet… on pre Harry Potter release day. I was one of those crazy maniacs who pulled a late-nighter until 12:00am. Because for GSC the booking lines open at that time you see. But much to my surprise they closed down the site that day-I guess they could foresee the congestion… and that was Harry Potter 4. Well, we got good seats in the end, but won’t say the movie was brilliant though.

Jason wants to watch Sky of Love. I know peanuts about it except the fact that it was actually based from a cellphone novel that was then published into a bestseller. Japanese and their handphones. How can they stare at the small screens for so long is still a mystery to me. I tried it out of boredom-and lost interest later. I mean, I prefer my computer.

Wow, Basheer Graphic Books are really efficient-they called me at around 10:30 am just now. Brilliant stuff, but they don’t have the book that I was looking for. Nevertheless, I’d explained again that the book has not been released yet and I was wondering if they would bring it in from America. Please tell me they would. I have been waiting forever for this book. At least let me order it if they didn’t.

Norah’s idea of their manga project sounds interesting enough. (: I wonder if my parents would say yes. 

What’s with the internet today? It’s only in the morning and it’s acting up already.

Midvalley outing

I had a very enjoyable time with Ilina and Zummi. Midvalley is definitely more fun with you guys! I find The Gardens even more desolate-on weekdays. The bridge isn’t as breathtaking as it is at night. The lighting and the walkway is far more pronounced in the darkness. I think I want those shoes from VOIR. Neither do I intend to wear slippers forever. The thought haunts me. D: Because I can actually count the number of shoes I have, and I think I can do so with one hand. So that makes about 5 pairs. Hmm… There’s that black Vincci shoes I use for ‘formal’, a pair of Vincci beaded (I think) slippers, yet another [Vincci] gold-pale yellow cloth stilettos, and that Grenda (Ipanema I don’t know) slippers. Brazilian, man! It’s not that Giselle Bundchen slippers though. Does sneakers count? Or do you refer to them as sports shoes? I have two of those. Oh, so it’s 6 pairs. 

So for our outing, we visited Art Friend. Ilina and Zummi both got charcoals. It’s definitely cheaper, but I didn’t want to get them in case they are the wrong type. And guys, I am not sure if we’re still using them next semester. :/ I saw this Copic multiliner that has a 1.0 nib. They even have 0.05 nibs! So I thought, why not, get that 1.0 one, and placed it back a moment later when I asked the guy for the price-a hefty RM24.90. Hello… it’s an artliner. It has to be the brand. And to think that we have this subject called ‘Marker Rendering’. Oh. 

We were at Borders too. While Zummi searched around for a book for her cousin, Ilina and I gushed over the art book section. The hugest book there-no doubt-was that Guess book of probably the best photographs from their photo shoots. There were a couple of cute snakes for a bag campaign. (((:

And oh, my goodness. I saw a book in which I have asked for-three years ago. That’s right. When the Curve just opened, I remember. Or maybe it wasn’t three years ago. It’s that Corpse Bride book! The one where they have the story boards, concept art, and script! I know I wanted that Okami Art Book, but…D: ARGH! If you knew me back then (eh Emily? ) you would know my undying (literally) affection for this movie. I really reallllyyy don’t like to spend so much-in fact I hesitate every time I want something that involves the exchange of cash. It’s really difficult; I feel like I’m having this internal struggle that is a matter of life and death. I am not exaggerating. Maybe it’s a good thing. Our Malaysian currency isn’t much help either. Cheap Affordable books in America becomes oh-goodness-that’s-quite-expensive here. Such a sad story, I know. Bibliophiles like me suffer in silence all the time, lol.