A Day in the Life (13)

I saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 and OH MY GOD GUYS.

 I was basically on the verge of tears the whole time because it was so bloody cute...and then I was on the verge of tears because it was sad.  And then cute again.  I seriously would watch a whole movie of just the opening scene where it's like a weird hybrid quidditch/dragon thing. So awesome!!!  I don't want to give any spoilers away, but let me just say that I was impressed with a part of the movie that I didn't think they were really going to commit to - and then they did.  Spoiler: When was the last time you saw a parental character die during the movie - not before? And a main character - after all Stoick was a main character for an entire movie before he died in this one - and he plays no insignificant role in this one as well. End spoiler.

It also had a pretty good soundtrack - there's a scene in the opening that totally reminds me of a Vaughan Williams symphony. I can't remember exactly which one, but here's an excerpt of one of my favourite symphonies.  Vaughan Williams writes just really gorgeous pieces with these intricate textures and....just listen to it.

I also loved how clearly affectionate Astrid and Hiccup were - not too mushy and over done, but a clear physical familiarity with each other.  That sounds kind of weird, but if you've seen it you'll understand.  And there are so many other reasons why I love this series - having main characters with disabilities, but not dismissing them or making their character meaning and development rotate around the disability.  And this movie has a serious case of female gaze (aka the opposite of male gaze), which is awesome.  Anyway go watch it. Now. For any reason at all. (But mostly because I WANT TOOTHLESS.)





I'm currently on the east coast looking for apartments.  I'm really sad to leave Chicago - it's by far my favourite city, and my apartment is basically my dream apartment in my dream city.  But being back on the east coast has been a lot of fun - and getting to see my boyfriend and friends has been SO much fun.  I went shoe shopping for my maid of honor outfit...and...things ensued:

I have never had so much fun at a Goodwill in my life hahahah.  (...we'll probably never be allowed to go back...)  And I totally bought that hat.  Best $4 spent. LOOK AT ME I'M A LADY.  I also got all three LotR on dvd which I'm super excited about, since I only have the first one.  And it's a bootleg, so sometimes the movie is suddenly in really high pitched Chinese.  Which is hilarious. They totally used a girl voice actress for Frodo hahahahaha.  

My friend (pictured above) also took me to my very first comedy showing!  Apparently that's a thing everyone but me has done? In any case I had a ton of fun!

 Some of you might recognize Hal Sparks - he played a role on the American version of Queer As Folk (which was quite good, but I never finished it because I found out the show got cancelled without everything wrapping out).  He was hilarious, and ended up talking about a lot of different subjects - everything from the bible to technology to...just everything!  So he was interesting and smart (*cough* and cute *cough*) as well as funny.  All in all it's been a great visit so far even if I haven't managed to look at a single apartment yet.  Flying up right before the weekend was cheap...but I didn't think through the logistics of when apartments are shown.  

 In the meantime, I've been watching loads of k-dramas - I'm in the middle of Heartstrings which features my favourite couple from You're Beautiful.  I don't love it quite as much as I loved You're Beautiful, but it's still a really fun drama so far.  Plus it's got plenty of good music to make me happy since the drama is about a traditional instrumentalist and a guy from a rock band - the leading man is the lead singer of the band CNBlue (who I LOVE. They're a rock band with some funk influence and some of their songs have kind of an indie vibe to them too), so a lot of the soundtrack comes from that.  I've recently become obsessed with this song:

That's a live version Minhyuk - the drummer from CNBlue singing while he's accompanied by one of the guys from SHINee (another Korean band).  Isn't this song so adorable and catchy?!  And that's it for my week!  Anything fun happening in yours? 

Bookish Links

Kick FeedBurner to the Curb! - Oh my god this was so useful!! I never would have finally gone to change all my feedburner info if Hannah hadn't put step by step directions for EVERYTHING you could ever need. Go read this and fix all the things!

Jacqueline Carey Says Game of Thrones Opens the Doors for a Kushiel’s Legacy TV Show - I would SO pay for HBO if this ever happened! Can this please happen? For real? PLEASE?!

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo - Leigh Bardugo talks about her female characters in the book

Books For A Cause: A Win-Win For All - More details on the page, but it's a way to raise money for a good cause!

YA Authors Read Snarky Reviews - Inspired by Celebrities Read Mean Tweets

What are the best LGBT books for children, teenagers and YAs? - This is a pretty long list of SO many books I now want to add to my TBR pile :)

Rainbow Books Galore - Hans was kind enough to feature a post I wrote earlier this week about finding LGBT in books.  He searches the web and posts all sorts of interesting links about LGBT in fiction, so this is definitely a site to have on hand!

Nonbookish Links

We All Benefit From Better Representation - A look at diversity in media and why we continue to primarily have straight white male characters
Unnecessarily Recasting Star Wars: Han Solo - Umm. Obviously. Nathan Fillion. But if I could have anything in the world, it's the whole situation outlined underneath Neil Patrick Harris - read it, and dream.

Disney's Into The Woods Cuts The Best Song From The Whole Damn Show - Wait. WHAT?! I literally yelled that out loud when I read this article!!! Angry angry angry argghhhhhh. It completely changes the WHOLE POINT of the musical!  And this is possibly my favourite musical. It's between this and Aida. So I care a lot.  But even if I didn't....how can you change a moment that literally effects the ENTIRE ENDING. Just sayin.
A Brief History of Fandom, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being a Fan - As part of the YA community, I'd say it's safe to say all of us are part of at least one fandom. This takes a look at what that means, how it happens, and fandoms through history!
The Lion King Turns 20 Today… and It Was the Most Unlikely Success Story You Will Ever Hear
We’re losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome - I'm not sure I agree with everything in the article, but the author certainly makes plenty of valid points.
Personal Care Products with Microbeads are Polluting Water, Illinois Becomes First to Ban - Yay Illinois!! And if you use microbeads...check out this article. You might rethink it!



I'll leave you with this video of guys dancing to Beyonce. In heels.  And holy crap these guys are freaking amazing! They totally kill it!