I've recently decided that I MUST watch Skins. Because it seems absolutely brilliant. And it has Nicholas Hoult. And a character called Maxxie(?) who is cool, and gay, and a dancer, and absolutely awesome!!!(The grammar just went out the window...)

And even though I've only seen one episode, (6, or Maxxie and Anwar), I've become a Tony/Maxxie shipper already. I'm such a slasher sometimes. Oh well, he's to looking forward to seeing Skins.

Okay, I love the Deltora Quest series, by Emily Rodda. It is one of my happy childhood loves, so when I discovered an anime of it, it was with trepidation that I watched the first episode. And there are two things I have to say about the anime version. One, for an anime, it seems to be pretty good at following the correct original plot, and two, Lief is blonde!!! How, in any possibility, could Lief be blonde?!?! It struck me as completely wrong the moment I saw it. Especially since everyone else has dark hair (excepting his father, who also shouldn't be blonde) and he's supposed to be 'average', so that it's logical for him to think that he's just a peasant like everyone else. Much annoyance.

Also, I recently managed to procure a copy of Serenity (Joss Whedon) and I'd like to say that it is AWESOME!!! Serenity is quick, funny, with great characters and a thrilling storyline, but it does have one rather strange con. The story is filled with the feeling of a conclusion. Throughout Serenity, the movie feels constantly as if its about to end... Completely insane.

That's it.

Review: Howl's Moving Castle.
Book By Diana Wynne-Jones.
Movie By Hayao Miyazaki.

I must admit, I am shamelessly obsessed with Anime. Which is the reason that, the moment I saw ads on TV for an anime about a moving castle, I was eager to see it, even going so far as to see it three times in the cinema, twice in English and once in Japanese. And no matter which language I see it in, I adore Howl's Moving Castle.

Howl's Moving Castle is a cinematic masterpiece. A well structured and engaging story, with likeable and well designed characters. The animation is first quality, with many beautiful painted backdrops, making it shine amongst all other anime.

After seeing such a brilliant and stunning movie, I was anxiously looking forward to reading the original novel. Upon reading it, however, I found myself sadly disappointed. It's a brilliant story, and there are many awesome concepts that are never explored in the movie. Unfortunately, the book lacks plot.

Well, I say plot, I should really say a climax. Howl's Moving Castle is really a quite well written book, but it lacks one of the most important features of a novel. The progression of cause and effect. Instead, Howl's Moving Castle has a progression better described as event and event. Basically, the book seems a bit like a series of short stories about a group of people, collated in chronological order, with the last story slightly longer and more dramatic than the rest.

This 'last story', which should probably be a climax, ends up as just a bit of a wimpy fight between Sophie and the ultimate evil, (which isn't all that impressive), and then a lame agreement between (dare I say it?) the main couple that they should live together in something akin to matrimonial hell.

A large fault to the book is perhaps the character development. The strange thing is, the characters are developed extremely well. It's the characters themselves that are the problem. Sophie, our main character, starts off as a slightly insane girl who's wasting her life being old, and turns into a crotchety old woman who's obviously got a thing for men 60 years younger than her. Howl, our other lead, is a narcissistic womaniser with absolutely no redeeming qualities, even when he does have a heart. This builds little sympathy for their well-being.

Amazingly enough, I found myself with sympathy for both characters. However, I am sad to say that this was brought about by the personalities that they possess in the movie. A good improvement on the book, Sophie is not quite so strange, a whole lot nicer, and the way she turns young again is explained. full stop. In Howl's case, he has human emotions, he learns some form of moral from his experience and the heart actually seems to do him some good.

I'll always be sorry that the alternate universe subplot was used only in the novel, as it was a part of the book that I enjoyed the most, but I believe that I will always have greater esteem for the anime. I'm sure that many people who've read the book first will jump to its defense against the 'perversion of the nasty anime lover', but the truth is, that, unless you develop a love for the book before you see the anime, the book is always going to seem second rate, and that really can't be avoided.

So, if you've never seen the movie of Howl's Moving Castle, my advice is to give the book a go first, and give yourself a chance to love it, before you overshadow it with the superior quality of the movie. If you've seen the movie, try giving the book a go anyway. You never know, someone might prove me wrong and enjoy the book even more than they did the anime. I'd suggest Howl's Moving Castle to both boys and girls in their early teens, and the anime adaptation to people of all ages.

Book: 6/10.
Movie: 9/10.

Woah... I really don't post very often... I think maybe I should post more often. Yes, I will do that. I have no reason to post again really, just felt obliged to... I think I'm done, then. bye.

Hello there, the non-existent people who read my Livejournal. How are you all? As you can probably tell, I'm pretty bored. Okay, I'm very bored. Boring school holidays are the worst! I hate them. They're so boring! I have very little to do, and too much time to do it in. Oh well, nothing else to say. Bye!

Hey there.

This is a set of character designs for a fanfiction that I'm writing, based in the Harry Potter universe. The characters are loosely based on my friends and myself, but I'm not going to tell you which one is me. The image and bio for each character is linked by their name.

Information is:
Name: Name
Date Of Birth: DD-MM-YYYY
Blood: Wizard blood-type. Followed by possible explanation of muggle relatives.
Home Town: Town, State.(All In Australia)
Biography: Information about family and early life.

( Sarah Stephanie Hatter )
( Jillian Taylor Peris )
( Rebecca Laura Grace Bones )
( Angela Pamela Bryant )
( Mellissa Yang Cao )
( Arthur Riley Scott )
( And lastly, everyone together.. )

And there they are, all the characters.

Hello,

I have nothing to write about. oops.... My sister taught me how to do division involving binomials today!! It was weird... But very fun. I love maths. But, if I do the course I want to at uni, I won't be doing any maths. Course is vet science, btw. No maths for the busy vet science students. But it has such a high UAI, so, I'll have a fallback of a combined bachelor of chemistry/civil engineering. That would be cool as well. I don't know why I'm splurting this. I mean, I haven't even finished year 10.

Urgh. My mum's being so annoying, ordering me to read my english text. i know i should've read it already. so what? i've got two weeks left. oh well. guess there's nothing for it. I'll read it. I must study.... hmm.... good point.

Well, that's the end.

Okay, so, I'm in the middle of the holidays right now, on the eve of major examinations, and what do I spend the day doing?

1. Ordering my bookshelf. (This required clearing out a new shelf for my rapidly increasing collection of books.)
2. Playing my euphonium.
3. Cleaning my bedroom.
4. Fixing damage on a set of school uniforms that I will NEVER have to wear again. (Damage caused by my sister when they belonged to her, btw.)

What's wrong with this picture?

Okay, so today has a couple of topics. First is weird fanfiction, then we'll have public transport and lastly there'll be a bit on something cosplay related.

Anyway, first. So, I'm reading this fanfiction and Draco's putting on this weird,'that's it, we're over!!' kind of act. The act you put on when you discover your other's been cheating on you. And it turns out, the reason he said it was because Harry was angry at him for saying mudblood, dissing muggleborns, and praising Voldemort. I mean, WTF?!

Next, I hate the public transport service. Took me 45 minutes on a journey that should tak 15 minutes today. Effing cityrail.

Lastly, I have found brown pinstripe pants so that I can be doctor the tenth at a friend's bday party, at which the theme is 'heroes'. And the doctor's my hero. Well, that's it.

Kireshai.

Okay, so today, I was in Subway, eating and reflecting on the distinct lack of customer service provided by the woman who was working. And it got me onto thinking about why customer service really matters. I mean, I don't understand the concept. If the product is good, who cares if it's delivered with a smile? Bad customer service will not deterr me from going to a store. Anyway, getting to the random thought I had.
I was considering where good customer service might be necessary, and the first and only idea that came to mind was at a brothel. I find this rather odd. I guess I'm just a bit odd.

Kireshai

I hate my father so much right now. All my life I've wanted a pet, and he still refuses to let me have one. I really want one, and I'm never going to get one because of him. I hate him.

I recently applied for a scholarship to Japan, andI got a reply saying that my application has been accepted and I'm being considered for a scholarship!!!

WOO HOO!!!!

Kireshai.

Yesterday, I went to the SMASH anime convention at UNSW, and it was fun!!! They were showing off the wacom, and I have discovered that I have no aptitude for it. Next, there was a performance called, 'Whose line is it, anime?' And it was sooo funny. And I bought BLEACH!!! Yay!!! I also bought some weird cheese pancakes, and an adorable set of cat ears!! Have a look!!



かわいいね！！！　私はかわいいですか。　でも、私はかっこわるいですね。　とてもかっこわるい！　そして、　つまらない。

じゃまたね！

キレシャイ。

A very important moment in Bleach history that I recently witnessed.

Episode 67: 'Undress, or I'll do it for you.'

Absolutely awesome.

Kireshai.

I just thought I'd get out some of my random ideas on the internet. So here they are:

1) Has anyone noticed in Yugioh, that between childhood memories and present day, Seto Kaiba seems to have aged 15 years or so, whilst his brother, Mokuba, looks 5 years older at the most. Also, Kaiba attends school in the first episode, and never goes again.

2) I think it would be funny if there was a group of people who broke into cars in parking lots, moved them a few rows along, parked them again, and then left them there to confuse the owner.

3) I want to write a HPverse fiction based in Australia with characters based on my friends and myself. Entirely unrelated in storyline to Harry Potter though.

4) In FAKE, Dee Laytner is left-handed, because that's the hand he holds his gun in. Because of that, he wears his watch on the right wrist. In book 7, the watch kept on changing hands, and sometimes dissappeared during a scene.

5) American people seem to have a much lower standard of grammar than Australians. This often makes reading fanfiction painful, especially when they use Americanisms. If you type proper english in a chat room, Americans assume you're up yourself and start insulting you.

6) The first 6 or so fanfiction I posted on ffn.net were not particularily popular. However, after extending 'Only Once Isn't Enough', a snarry mpreg fic, I have found that most of my fanfictions are getting more attention.

7) Thinking of an oxymoron, I came up with: American intellegence. One that one of my friends enjoys: Microsoft works. Don't know what an oxymoron is? The local primary school is a couple of streets away. I'd suggest re-attending year 2.

8) My sister really can't cook for shit.

9) Tinned potatoes taste fucking disgusting.

10) Writing this list on my livejournal doesn't make me do my homework any faster, but it sure is fun.

11) I need a haircut.

12) If it takes two weeks minimum to get a passport, I'm totally screwed for my scholarship application.

13) I'm writing a random list on my livejournal, when I could be doing something else. Good point. I'm done for now.

See none of the people who view this post later,
Kireshai.

Looky looky, I'm posting... It was the last day of term today, and I didn't go to school. We got our reports yeasterday, and I thought I'd have a growl about my teachers.
Legge is a complete bitch and I will make her pay when I have a good idea for it. Also, Rowe is still a complete bitch, and I hate her to the very core of my being. Bitch....
Anyway, next is... hmm... I finally posted Nightwalking on ffn.net, so yay!! read it!! The entirety of two people who read my posts. I wish people'd read my lj. Oh well.
And lastly, this week's words of wisdom from a few of my friends:
- Amy would get better results if she had less of a life.
As well as those of Mr Campbell:
- The world is ruled by white supremacists!
And that's all for today!

Kireshai.

Well, isn't it wonderful, I'm finally updating my lj... On my WONDERFUL NEW laptop!! My mom keeps on getting worried about me slouching while using it but I think it's fine... She's getting rather annoying... Laptop has vista, btw, and it's really awesome, but I liked some of the features of my old system better.
I also have to have a bitch about my pe teacher. totally anal, she is... I can't stand her. She gave me punishment homework the FIRST time I forgot my PE kit... Talking about strict teachers, we had Kibishii-sensei last week, and it was kinda fun.(note: kibishii isn't her real name, it's my nickname for her, means strict.) She's strict, but she teaches her subject well, unlike some teachers I know. *cough*LEGGE*cough*
Lately I've been reading the cherub books for the second time. They're by robert muchamore, and they're about a group of kids who are spies and trained as secret agents. Anyway, as I've been reading the book, I've realised something that I ddn't really notice first time I read the books, 'cos I was concentrating on the storyline, is that the main character, name; james, is a crappy little shit. He has got to be the most horrible main character I've ever read about, and he should be sacked for being such an asshole. I think Kyle should be the main character. He's awesome, he is. He's gay, camp, and totally neurotic about cleanliness. I always feel sorry for him, 'cos there don't seem to be any other gay kids on campus, but in the sixth book he finally got a boyfriend! And I felt happy for him. He's not like james, who's a total womaniser.
Next on the agenda, I'm finally sixteen!! YaY!! Birthday was two days ago and this laptop was my present from my parents. It was great fun.
I think that's about it. Lastly, i will put in a piccy...

There he is!! Michael in drag, finally!!
Next post might have some Robin Hood in it, btw..

Cya, Kireshai.

I don't know why I bother doing the sparse posting that I do do on this journal. It's not as if anyone reads it!

Anyway, school started 8 weeks ago, and I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to write about it. 2 new girls in the year... I haven't met either. Still got a crap drama teacher and now have a crap science teacher. Stupid school.

I've learnt to write the kanji for new!! YaY...

I never paid attention to it before, but my lj is REALLY green. I think I should probably change the colour scheme a bit.

OOh... we got qaf season 2 on dvd, and i've seen it all and it's sooo cool! Michael is so sexy in drag! Yummy... If he were a girl, I'd do him. I'll try to put up a picture of Michael, don't know if it'll happen, but i'll try.

Kireshai.