The Hangout....where sanity is overrated.

[Xalome]

Whee. I've been gone due to being sick with the worlds most demonic cold, which has been going around here like there is no tomorrow. That and diplomas. All I've got left is English 30 Reading one though. YAY.

AD: American is totally talking about people from the US. Otherwise you specify North Americans or South Americans.  

[Abandoned Dreams]

Laitue - gonk Sorry to hear you've been sick. I hope your English thing goes well.

Thank you! Easy, no?


In other news:

Can anyone please explain the first-person Mary Sue vampire novel phenomenon to me? My coworker recommended "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer because her daughter likes it and she knows I read fiction (this is, apparently, an entire hobby by itself). I checked out the excerpts online and, heaven help me, this chick is worse than Amelia-Atwater Rhodes. Why can so few people with degrees in English actually write? Being able to put all your semicolons in the right places won't do you a damn bit of good if everything between them is s**t.

Ugh. Back to work.  

[Chibi Koji]

Fiiinaaals. Are kinda lame.


Iyou~ I thought it'd be pronounced that way. xD So you're like, majoring in Japanese? I'm due there spring break. And I have a B in the class. 8D Got any pointers?


AD~ Pcheah. Doesnt matter what it is, if it's a "mine" you don't have to worry about it. >D

It really wasn't. I think I've learned my lesson. x:

Wow, you're a hxc lit arentcha? xD I read the most marvelous book today. :] I'll find it and get the title up; I suggest everyone go out and try and find it. D:  

[Iyou]

Koji - I'm majoring in both chemistry and Japanese, but I want to go to grad school for chemistry. I just figured I could get away with a Japanese major instead of a minor because I was such a Japanophile geek in high school that I tested out of most of the classes required for the major. xD I think all I have to do to qualify for the Japanese degree now is another year of the language and one more 300+ level culture class. (Plus gen ed and residency requirements... but I have to worry about those with my other major too.)  

[Abandoned Dreams]

Koji - Eww, finals. I don't envy you. Beat some sense into 'em for me.

xd ! I'm totally a hxc lit (and there is no way to type that in a non-dirty way).

EDIT: Here, see?

(Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Chapter 1)

Typical woman writing: first person, female, and immediately starts describing what she's wearing. Tch. And then, in the second paragraph, the second, third and fourth sentences begin with "it." The fifth? "That." Come on.  

[axel]

gonk that looks yucky. she seems to be coddling adjectives.
i am ashamed that we share the same first name.
(although she seems to spell it in an odd french-like way. O_o)  

[T H I N N]

AD>> Icky writing is icky. gonk

Koji>> Sinister finals are sinister! xp


And now, my thoughts on FFXII thus far.
I'm enjoying the game in many places and in many ways ... if I'm not doing things related to the story and related to Vaan talking. Everything else about the game and the story I like and find interesting, but I can't stand anything that involves Vaan in the context of the story. When he opens his whiney, cocky, LOLZZIWANTTOBEASKYPIRATE!!!?!?!!11 mouth, I cringe.

Balthier ... Awesome
Fran ... Bunny Girl Awesome
Batsch ... EPIC WIN Awesome
Ashe ... only seen her a little so far, but I did find her voice nice. When she first fights in your party, I immediately thought, 'YES! A female lead character who is NOT some sort of mage/cleric/summoner.' If she hooks up with Vaan, I will be seriously pissed.

But yes AD, the following of her tiny, red, short, mini-mini skirt clad buttocks is very much apparent and hitlarious.  

[Xalome]

Horrah for diplomas being over. At least until June.

Reading Diploma equals easiest thing EVER. I was amused because one of the excerpts was from one of my favorite books A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It think I spelled his name right.

Very good author. Unlike the one AD has quoted. I mean, I'm not an especially amazing writer or anything but still.. *cringe*  

[Abandoned Dreams]

axel - "Coddling adjectives." xd You're quite right.


Ashram - Well, I'm glad you're enjoying FFXII so far. You may end up liking the entire thing, which would earn a wholehearted shrug from me. Better to like a game you paid for than hate it, right?

Vaan is Tidus reincarnated. At age 15. stare

I would just like to say that no matter how cool Fran is, running around in a leather thong all day would be...uncomfortable, to say the least. I do not envy her.

See, see?! No one follows Ashe out of REASON! It's the damn SKIRT!


Laitue - I personally have not read anything ever recommended by Oprah. I especially have no intention of doing so after the James Frey scandal.

However, I found an excerpt from A Fine Balance and shall post it here in contrast to Twilight...


Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance Chapter 1

Do I even have to be a hxc literary snob to appreciate the difference? Do I? (Although, to be honest, his writing rubs me the wrong way. That isn't to say it isn't intelligent; I'd just have to get used to it.)


THIS is AD's favorite book. Ever.

John Gardner - Grendel Chapter 1

So simple and ridiculously manly. Love it. heart  

[Xalome]

AD: Yea. His writing style takes a bit of getting used to. The storyline itself is wonderful. Even if it is the most depressing book I have ever read. It's like, "YAY! All is well! Happy, happy. Oh. WAIT! Now everything bad that could possibly happen will."I think why I love it so much is that Mistry somehow makes it all seem plausible.

I've never been very fond of books written in first person but perhaps I shall have to give that one a try. ^^

Mmm.. books! There's a reason I have a discount card for Chapters/Coles/Indigo. I buy too many books.

Actually, my whole family is rather obsessed with literature. One of the rooms in our hosue actually is the library. One wall is covere in books and the other three have floor to ceiling bookcases. We are running out of room. Books are ending up with no shelf space.. even in bedrooms and on the couch in the library. Tis quite sad really.  

[T H I N N]

AD>> Seems like there are only two people who follow Ashe for A reason, don't know if it's out of reason ... Basche and Vossier hold to their knightly codes, so there you go. Balthier and Fran ... meh, they've got no reason. Vaan whines, Penelope follows Vaan and ... that's it so far.

Lawl, leather thong. Yes, very unformtable and ... well, it's a thong on a skinny bunny girl, don't think I should say anything further on that. ninja

Truthfully, I didn't mind Tidus that much. He actually had some good moments, albeit few and far between.

Laitue>> Lllllllaaaaaaaiiiiittttttuuuuuueeee ... I thought your name and I thought dirty, am I going to be ok? gonk  

[Abandoned Dreams]

Laitue - I hate first-person books with a passion, but Grendel is different because he's insane. Like Catcher in the Rye, Grendel is more about the individual than the world outside him, thus making first-person a preference if not a necessity.

I don't buy books. I wait for copies to be canceled at my library and steal them from the basement...

My mother buys books and then never reads them. Does that count?

Oh! I saved someone a lot of time yesterday by warning them off of A Million Little Pieces. She had it on her desk and was going to read it on her break because a friend had recommended it, and I threw a fit.


Ashram - OK, you officially have the strangest recollection of the characters' names. xd It's "Basch" and "Vossler." And "Penelo."

Balthier bothered me because they put so much effort into making him the cool guy that it seemed forced and therefore annoying.

I liked Tidus, but he was a brat at 17. At 15, I'm sure he was a whiny nightmare. AKA: Vaan.  

[Chibi Koji]

Iyou~ What a kid. D: I got an 87% on my Japanese final. I feel kinda cool. 8D;;


AD~ Beaten and left uncoordinated, sir. :]
Lmao. Stop winning so much. xDD



I'd comment more, but then this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giiCPKQn6M0  

[Abandoned Dreams]

Just got back from Pan's Labyrinth... Hrm. I'm still not sure what to think. If you're looking for mindless entertainment, you won't get it. But I do recommend that you see it anyway.


Koji - Winning is what I do, kid. Winning is what I do.

I've seen that! My FATHER showed it to me. It was funny, but talk about an awkward minute and a half.  

[Iyou]

AD - Aww... I hope Pan's Labyrinth is a good thing. One of my friends wanted to see it so badly that she's taking us all to a theater in Indianapolis (an hour away) so we can make a day of it. I looked at the website and it seemed pretty interesting, although the faun was a little bit artificial-looking for my tastes... (But then again, I thought Lady in the Water looked like a good movie when I went to its website, but... hah. I laugh.)

Oh! I've read Grendel! Well, part of Grendel. I had checked it out from the school's library and I had to turn it back in early because it was the end of the year, so I never was able to finish it. crying

Koji - I'm sure high school Japanese is much more rigorous out on the West Coast on account of actually having Japanese people to teach their own language. xd Out here in corn field land we have no such luxury. (Not that my high school's Japanese program wasn't good... it just went at a really slow pace so I went off and did a lot of studying on my own.)

Edit: Just got back from seeing Pan's Labyrinth, and I have to say I liked it a lot. The movie was a lot darker than I expected, but I really enjoyed the ending - not so much for what actually happened as for how thought-provoking and open-ended it was. I really liked how the creator of the film left it up to the viewer to choose whether what she saw was real or imagined. I enjoyed the soundtrack too - especially that haunting little lullaby melody. whee It's been a few hours and I'm still humming it!