Talking Soup

I've kind of sucked lately at doing reviews, so I figured it was high time to get back in the habit. Especially since this weekend you can expect a very detailed account of The Golden Compass. Very. Detailed.

SPOILER WARNING on all of these.

First and foremost, Avatar had it's kinda-sorta mid-season finale on Friday. The date of its return is still up in the air, though the episodes are written, so they're unaffected by the writer's strike. We're thinking sometime in January. We had Amanda, Michelle, a guy friend of theirs, and Sophia over to watch it, and even Molly, who doesn't usually watch Avatar, joined in.

( Momo singlehandedly takes down the Fire Nation )

Last weekend was the first ASIC marathon of the year. Twelve hours. We watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is probably one of the most famous animes ever, though I had never seen it. To finish it off, we watched the infamous Eva movie, appropriately titled "The End of Evangelion."

( Psychological Trauma, or, Pay No Attention To the Thing Living Inside My Hand )

And last but not least, the Heroes kinds-sorta-maybe season finale.

( With MIND BULLETS! )

Long entry.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of writing a letter of recommendation for my professor's tenure portfolio. Just need to figure out how exactly I go about doing that. And I'm pretty sure that I'm going to exchange my Soc major for a minor. Not entirely because of what's been going on with Margo, though it was a catalyst--but frankly, if I switch to a minor, it frees me up to take classes I actually want to take. There are so many awesome-looking classes, but I wouldn't be able to take any of them because I still need a shitload of credits for my major. I would already have had to take a summer class. I think Ithaca College has sucked enough money from my poor parents.

And in other news, Motley Crew is on a downhill slope toward the end. FINALLY.

So tomorrow at 4 I'm leaving with Julie to spend the night with Tammy. Then Thursday we're driving up to Saratoga to go to World Fantasy Con.

This'll be my second con EVER, and seeing as the first one was tiny, but still wonderful, I think this one's gonna be ten times the lulz. We're gonna be sharing a hotel room with four others, one of whom is a friend of Julie's. The con runs from Thursday to Monday. There will be books, art, agents, famous people, pretty things, pointy things, and six fantasy/writerly/art-minded girls sharing a single hotel room for four days. Oh the times we shall have.

Sarah Monette and Laura Anne Gilman, two of my favorite authors right now, are going to be there. And Tammy, of course, as well as pretty much all the big names in fantasy and such, and the famous ladyjaida is going too. I'm going to be surrounded by awesome and successful people and will probably come away feeling very tiny and unsuccessful, but also with new ideas and, hopefully, hope. And shiny things.

Also, augh, Thursday is the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I still don't know if I'm going to do it. November is going to be the bitch month from hell in Grants since we're gonna be going through two whole components of our proposal, but I'd like to try and push myself to finish Mot. Actually, I've told myself that I'm going to finish it by the end of the year. Will I do it? Who knows. Gonna try, though. As for NaNo, well, I suppose I could use it to churn out a bunch for Mot, or maybe I could work on North.

News about North! It turns out that her world is going to have more than one story in it.

Uh, let me rephrase that.

Pretty much, North's world, which has no name right now, is going to have other stories set in it. In other words, it's going to be like Tammy's Tortall. I've got a pretty awesome idea in mind for something that happens about 100 years after North's story. I'll explain it and introduce the characters in another post, though.

In other news--we're watching Ouran in ASIC alongside Death Note, and I think Ouran is being taken pretty well. It's hard to dislike that show, really.

And you know what pwns hard?

Heroes.

You know what else pwns hard?

House.

And you know what else pwns hard?

Avatar.

Holy poop. All three shows are just doing so awesome right now. The most recent episode of Heroes was probably the best of the season, which dragged its feet in the beginning but now is picking up steam. House is always awesome and more so now that he's got all these newbies running around. And Avatar? Dooon't even get me started. I think this is my favorite season thus far. Well worth the wait.

Discovered a new awesome and relatively obscure anime (I've been doing that a lot lately) called Darker Than Black. Check it out. Incredible animation, complex and intriguing storyline, plus a kickass main character.

Meanwhile the fires are finally out in California (mostly) and there was just an earthquake ten miles from my house (which is more fun than bad).

Anyway. Off I go into the wild blue yonder of con-dom. No, Jules, I'm never letting you live that one down.

Flameo, hotmen!

Woah, Heroes man.

( Clicky for SPOILERS! )

Well, I'm in Chicago (or rather, the suburbs), and despite pain, bloody noses, heat and more pain, it's been really nice. I've discovered that a 12 hour drive passes pretty quickly when you're listening to Harry Potter on tape (I officially recommend books on tape for long drives). I also managed to sleep some. Yesterday we went to the local lake to go canoing, and we also checked out the local mall, which was awesome. It had a Rainforest Cafe, which I've never heard of before, and a store called Black Market Minerals, which sold stones and wooden wind chimes and crystal things and mineral type things. Very nice. I got some kind of...Indian river rock which is sacred to Shiva, and is pretty much a smaller version of the stones in the Temple of Doom. Also got a bit of agate like another stone I've got at home, which has very close veins (or whatever you call them), a worry stone (Flourite, for mental calmness), and a malachite bowl that looks suspiciously like the Kouki wine cup from Mushishi. Also got to meet Claire, Molly's friend.

Today we went to Chicago, first to Millennium Park, then we tooled around for awhile in the heat and sun until we went to a very, very awesome pizza place where I had deep-dish pizza for the first time. After that we went to the Art Institute, where I saw many beautiful, famous paintings, and some puzzling, famous paintings, and SWORDS and ARMOR. I now officially know what a real glaive looks like, and the difference between a halberd and a spear. Wooo!! I'm sorry, Julie, I tried to get pics or postcards for you, but there was no photography allowed and they didn't have any postcards. Blasphemy!! I wish you could have been there.

Molly's cousin Kelly and her friend were here as well, and they're good people.

Also am about halfway through Trickster's Choice, and I officially LOVE Nawat because he is adorable and oblivious and awesome. Aly is the coolest thing too.

I'm thoroughly tired. Dunno what we're doing tomorrow, though it's supposed to thunder. Woot! We're also gonna meet Molly's friend, Whitney.

In terms of writing, I haven't gotten anything done due to--yanno--12 hour drive, tooling around Chicago, being exhausted for the better part of three days (the Red Eyed Monster will do that to you). But I've been thinking more about Spirits/North and have some general ideas for how spirits function and the difference between insubstantials, gods, imaginaries, spirits, animal spirits, and other such declinations of spirity-types (all of whom are called Folk).

I've also decided to do the 100 Theme Challenge, which is supposed to be for fanfic, but which I suppose I'll just post here. Don't know when I'll start it, hopefully soon. Don't know what characters I'll use, either. Maybe I can switch off...or maybe I can just stick to one world. So, there's that project for the summer, in case I get nothing done on the other projects.

I've also decided to start posting more excerpts here. Figure I might as well.

It's gonna be a busy next few weeks. As soon as I get back to Cali, I'm off to Mono Lake with my parents for a photography talk and for birding and astronomy. Then I'm pretty much looking for a job until the 24th, when I'll head back to Syracuse, get a ride to Fabius, and go to Lisa's wedding. Then I come back that Sunday, probably look for more jobs, and hopefully start one (fat chance). I've applied to Borders and will be applying to a bunch of other places. I really need a job this summer. Guh.

Well, that's the news from Lake Country. Julie, I hope you're alive and got home alright and that you saw Heroes! Sending you all my love. ^.^

Actually, the episode was kind of disappointing last night. It was noisy. As in, there was near-constant music playing, even during dramatic scenes and stuff. It got on my nerves. Part of it might have been the TV which was definitely favoring background noise over verbal, but so it goes.

Also in terms of content, the episode just wasn't as great as the others. *shrug*

( Spoilers! )

I have some insider info on the next episode, too. Damn TV guide. They live to spoil things! Though, it was my choice to read it. *evil snicker* I've got some juicy tidbits.



( MAJOR Spoilers! )

Augh, can't wait for next week.

I have until this Thursday to finish my Iran paper. Meep!

We did it! Julie and I have caught up with Heroes! Holy crap this show is amazing! The characters are so well done, the story is so well written--it's seriously the best show on television. It's like Lost back before it started sucking. Except that unlike Lost, you actually end up liking the "bad guys!" Woot! Next episode is tomorrow--can't wait! Now we have something to preoccupy our Mondays other than Writer's Workshop.

It's been a so-so kind of week. I've been trying to do my Soc of Religion paper--pretty much, I have to research a certain religion. Well, I chose Pentecostalism, and I left a message at the nearby Pentecostal church, just asking for times when their services are--but they didn't even call me back. I have another big paper for my Social Movements class--I'm doing the Iranian Revolution and I have a bunch of stuff to read. Also have a Soc of Religion test due next Friday, the same day as my Grammar and Usage midterm. And I didn't really get anything done today because I was too busy watching Heroes, lol.

Went to the opera on Friday. Yes, you read that right. Dillingham was putting on an opera called Acis and Galatea--it was in English and it was very awesome, since one of the characters looked pretty much like Edward Scissorhands. Fuck yes. The music was good, but I can tell why people prefer operas in other languages--it's a lot of repeating the same thing over and over. Nice music, but it gets repetitive. Hung out with Pat afterwards and that was fun. He also drove us into town on Saturday, which was nice. I found the next volume of Monster in the comic book store--woot! Probably the best volume ever and it ends in such a bad place!

We were also supposed to go see Casino Royale on Saturday as well, but we ordered Chinese that night and it didn't arrive until an hour and a half later. Same deal as what happened when we tried to see The Departed. Goddamnit. I felt bad because Pat was going to go too. In any case, we didn't get to see Casino Royale and instead started watching the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I love that show, it's such good cheese.

I also handed off Pentagram to Pat for him to critique. I'm kind of nervous. The last time I sent something off to a First Reader, she was my cousin and it was a few years ago, so it was pretty much safe. But, I dunno. Lol, Pat, just don't rip it to shreds, okay? ^.^;

Handing off Pentagram has in fact gotten me back into the rewrite. It's good to return to the old stuff, put everything else aside. I'm going to work on the rewrite for awhile before I get back into Mot or North.

toukenjen has turned her story, The Askari, into a webcomic. And you should all go read it!!!! It's here.

Spring break is next week. Julie and I are going to stay with the family in New York City. Should be hella fun!