Originally published at Nightfalling. Please leave any comments there.

I watched this almost a full week ago and it took me this long to remember to post about it. That’s how awesome I found it.

I was bored. I had to force myself to finish it and even then I stopped several times and did other things. It’s like they knew they didn’t have a coherent story so they just decided to blow as much shit up as possible. And I like action movies. I even liked the first Transformers movie. This just, no pun intended, blew.

Bumblebee’s still a cutie though.

⌈ Secret Post #1057 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #151.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 3 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

hay guys

Title: And My Wasted Heart Will Love You
Characters/Pairings: Kurt/Finn
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers/Warnings: Some slight sexual content
Word Count: ~3000
Summary: I'm supposed to be trying to get over him, and instead I invite him over to my house for an imaginary party. Oh, God... what am I going to wear?!
A/N: I have no clue if I got these characters right, but I gave it a shot.

Spider-Man is Spider-Man. Also, James Franco is ridiculously hot.

I don't post a whole lot about my day-to-day life in Japan. Stuff becomes routine no matter where you live, so it just becomes normal after a while. I'm in the mood to write something, though, so I feel like sharing a few random things.

( Well, ALMOST everything becomes normal )

Well, I looks like IMDB has run out of decent ones so I'm cheating and using Wikiquote.

( And finally... )

In other news, I had a bit of a twinge in my shoulder before lunch. It's been bugging more than usual for the past few days but figured I should play safe and do a couple of stretches to loosen it up again. Only this time, instead of the desired effect, I got muscle pain down one side of my back (which abaited as soon as I stopped) and muscle pain over my shoulder and down my arm. Leaving me now with the original sore joint and additional sore limb.

Additional: Half the office is off sick today, the head of department has confirmed swine flu, everyone else who is off has the same symptoms. Joy.

Day 27

I'll keep it short and sweet. I'm off to a player event so I can emo and mope about certain dead soldiers, my impending DOOM in fidelia and(if I somehow survive that by a miracle) my impending DOOM via many more messy methods.


Should be a lot of fun!

If you're going, I'll see you there, if you aren't, I'll see you on the other side!

Startling revelation for the day:
Even an old-timer like me sometimes gets nervous about LARP! :S

Shortpacked!: Whiskey



DIX

I don't even know where to start. My parents are the most wonderful people in the world- and no one can convince me otherwise. I really don't know what I'd do, or where I'd be without them.

My mum was born in Busia, Kenya. She was one of nine children. This does not include her adopted brother and sister (two) or half-brother and sister (two). These are 13 children in total. They were all raised in one home- by one set of parents. Not only this, but my grandparents also took in their poor relative's children. So add about four or so more kids to the 13 children. That's seventeen children all living in one house. My grandmother was a teacher in a rural school and my grandfather was a farmer. There was not a lot of money. Somehow, my grandparents were able to put all seventeen kids through school. It was a large family, but they worked extremely efficiently. My mother was brilliant. She attended the best school in the country and went to the best University in the country. She graduated, married my dad, and had me.

My dad was born in Kisii, Kenya. He was the eldest of eight children. He went to an average secondary school, but he managed to make into into the best university in the country- where he met my mother. He lived a rough life- in prison. No, he wasn't in jail. But my grandfather was a prison warden and he moved around the country prison to prison with his family. My father grew up around criminals.

After they graduated (with law degrees) they went and started up their own lives. I was born, my sister was born two years later, and my parents were building a life for themselves. We moved into a small apartment and stayed there until there was a robbery attempt. The small apartment was in the slums- it was all my parents could afford. However, they built themselves up. Now, you would not believe how far we've come. My mom is the Head of the International Criminal Court Liason office to the United Nation and my dad is not only a renowned lawyer, but works as a negotiator in the U.N. for the Kenya Mission. They are both diplomats for their country. My mum and dad are only 37 and 39, respectively.

From the village, to slum apartments, to an apartment on fifth avenue- my parents have come a LONG way. Everything they've done, everything they have is a result of hard work. They have earned every single penny. Not only that, but they financially support my extended family back home. I have never met stronger, more dedicated, loving, generous people in my entire life. I have not been around for very long, but I doubt I'll ever meet people like my parents- EVER. They inspire me to work hard and achieve my dreams. They inspire me to become a better person. They remind me every day to never forget my roots. They always think of everyone else but themselves. They are so selfless and loving. I am so grateful for them.

They give me hope.

Day 26

Today I have been linked to a couple of cool things :D

Firstly, this article about Freenet, it's pretty awesome. I never even knew about the "deep" web, but I'm very interested in finding out.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/26/dark-side-internet-freenet <-- link to article

http://freenetproject.org/ <--- link to the website where you download the program. It's also worth a read as it seems very well written and reasonable. These people really thought about what they were doing and why they were doing it.


On an artfag note, I also found this picture (SFW, although a little disturbing):
http://ninjabug.org/images/posty/2009-09-18/angercake.jpg

I believe it is a cake, but due to the angle I can't help but think it would make an awesome light switch. The tongue would be the actual button, I'd seriously love to have such light switches in my house. (Of course, I'd never sleep again!)


My day today has been pretty crappy, I woke up with a terrible "hangover2 which seemed dreadfully unfair as I hadn't been drinking! Stupid plague has chosen to infect me again, although now it has boiled down to simple swollen glands and a headache which I can nuke with painkillers pretty well.
Played Exalted tonight, and it was surprisingly fun, although it went on a bit later than I would have liked - got to get up and drive places tomorrow! Ah well, it'll be fine :P

Got player event on Saturday, driving down to Oxford tomorrow via York, so should be fun! Not sure if I'll have access to the tubes while down there, but I will have my phone!

Should probably head to bed - got to get up tomorrow and pack/iron kit! Oh lordy, I am so disorganised.

Startling revelation for the day:
Last night I slept in pyjamas, slippers, a hat and gloves - and tonight I shall do the same! Stupid cold weather >.

⌈ Secret Post #1056 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 090 secrets from Secret Submission Post #151.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! Happy Thursday to everyone else.

So, I finished the Kurt/Finn fanmix I've been ~sekritly putting together over the past week, and I am quite pleased with it! The back cover doesn't look the way I wanted it to but everyone seems to like the covers so far, so it's all good. It made me happy making it and posting it, and even though I said I wasn't going to go into Glee fandom, I'm glad I'm tentatively stepping my toes into it. I'm gonna try to start writing a fic tonight. Though I still need to watch all the eps again, but I was mostly just doing that for the fanvid I want to make, so that can wait a little longer.

I can't believe there's only two more episodes and then we have to wait 'til April. And then it'll be on the same time as LOST!!! That is so not fair. >:( How dare you force me to choose, tv networks!

Also, I find it hilarious that right after I post my fanmix (which has Bad Romance as a bonus!crack!track), Chris Colfer tweets about that same song, hahaha.

I thought it would be appropriate to give away my November book on Thanksgiving. Now, of course, to me Thanksgiving is a strange and exotic thing, like 'cheerleaders' and 'prom.' As a child, it pretty much just seemed like something made up for the movies.

As a grown-up, I have celebrated Thanksgiving twice, and I enjoyed it very much both times. There is a whole pile of delicious food, you guys. There is DERBY PIE.

What is Derby pie, you may well ask? I will tell you. It is chocolate chip cookie dough pie.

I can best describe the amazingness of this pie by describing to you my vision of a Truly Good Time.

SARAH: *is on her cherry-red sofa curled up with a new book, possibly either Kelley Armstrong's The Reckoning or Megan Whalen Turner's A Conspiracy of Kings, and a bowl of hot Derby pie and cold vanilla ice-cream*
DOORBELL: *rings*
SARAH: *answers door*
ERIC FROM THE TV SHOW TRUE BLOOD: Sarah, my beloved, at last! I have fought hordes and crawled over broken glass, broken women and broken men to be at your side! Come away with me and be my Queen of the Night.
SARAH: Uh. I'm a little busy right now.
ERIC: But only you can truly warm my cold undead heart - and only you can look amazingly fabulous at the helm of the yacht I have purchased for you.
SARAH: My ice-cream is melting, so if you would excuse me...
ERIC: Let me introduce you to a world of dark pleasure and unimaginable luxury.
SARAH: I SAID GOOD DAY, SIR.

Derby pie is that good.

'Sarah,' you might at this point say suspiciously. 'What have blond vampires and pie got to do with your November book? Are you not straying A LITTLE OFF THE POINT?'

You shouldn't doubt me. I am as on point as a ballerina or a stake. For my November book of the month is Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margi Stohl.

It may seem eccentric to have a book that comes out December 1st as my November book, but a) it is so good I could not wait! and b) It fits in with Thanksgiving in a key way I will discuss later.

For now, I will say this. I love books set in the South in the same way that I think people love books set in Ireland: it's very strange to me (never been) and there's a rich culture there, and a really different way of doing things. I love other kinds of media set there too - I love the Gone With the Wind movie as well as the book and I love the TV show True Blood. (You see how my earlier mention of True Blood's Eric the Vampire is relevant now, don't you? All my vampires are relevant - I would never present you with gratuitous vampires.) All of them have seeeveral issues, but I love them nevertheless. I love Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and Saundra Mitchell's Shadowed Summer. So when I was presented with a 600 page teen fantasy novel set in the deep South I was beyond thrilled.

A plentylot (Yes, that's a word. I'm a writer, we know these things) of YA fantasy books are set in Generic Small Towns/Generic Suburbia in the US. I am against this, because - well, because we are all against generic stuff, aren't we? Few people pipe up and say 'What I really like is for my food to be bland.' Gatlin in Beautiful Creatures is a small town that is the furthest thing from bland - even though Ethan, the narrator, feels stifled by the small town atmosphere we get a vivid image of what the town is like, and from the start we know the town is much more interesting than Ethan thinks. It's atmospheric enough to roll around in.

And then there's Ethan. He's a boy. Okay, Sarah, quit rocking our world with your amazing information, say the peanut gallery, but there is a real scarcity of boy narrators in YA fantasy. Now, this is not the same as my generic towns complaint - I love that girls get so much of a voice in my favourite genre, but it is at a point where one looks around and cries softly because one is all alone... I like boys to get a voice sometimes, so they don't seem like Alien Creatures. And I like seeing girls to be awesome through boys' eyes as well as through their own. It is always nice to have variety.

Plus I am glad not to be all alone. *sob*

And not only is the boy our narrator, the girl is the supernatural one who the boy is drawn to. And Lena is awesome, through Ethan's eyes or not - I like her being off-beat but anxious to make friends, but immediately ferocious when challenged. I like that she wears black nail polish and absentmindedly writes on her own hands. She's great - both a teenage girl unsure of who exactly she is, and very much her own person. And Ethan is very much his own person too: I like very much that he's a jock who loves to read.

I really love the romance in Beautiful Creatures because, in spite of the fact there are supernatural complications, incubi, secret libraries, dark pasts and curses to make the whole situation High Drama Angsty, the main characters are also huge dorks about their romance in a way we can all empathise with. (Possibly just me...)

ETHAN: Lena, even though we are TELEPATHICALLY LINKED, I am not sure if you like me!
LENA: I REALLY like you.
ETHAN: Really like like REALLY like?
LENA: Yes.
ETHAN: So - just so I'm clear on this - you like like me. In that special sort of type of way.
LENA: Yes.
ETHAN: OMG yay!
LENA: Yay!
EVENTS: Tragic long-dead soldiers, evil relatives, family curse, did we mention incubi?
LENA: Ethan, even though we are TELEPATHICALLY LINKED, I am not sure if you like me...

It is a sweet and really believable romance. They are such dorks, you want to hug them both.

I also very much enjoy that the book is long: I read fast, and especially with such an atmospheric book, it felt right to be able to sink right in and be totally submerged, whether fighting off evil curses or enjoying descriptions of extremely delicious-sounding Southern food. (See, Thanksgiving and pie was just as relevant as the vampires.) The book gives itself time to explore its minor characters, too - my very favourite is Marian, who came along just when I was thinking I'd like to see a cool lady besides Lena. She's a librarian with secret supernatural knowledge! She's a lady of colour and it's not a big deal! I like Marian even more than Lena's Uncle Macon, who is sort of like Edward Rochester cast in the role of Boo Radley. Plus I think it is cool that the book was co-written: I have co-written myself and it is such an interesting process.

To make a long story short, if I was curled up with Beautiful Creatures and Derby pie, I might not even answer the door to blond vampires. Who wants Beautiful Creatures? I'm afraid I can't offer anyone Derby pie.