Sunday, May 10, 2015

Too much Fandom

Supernatural is in its 10th and possibly final season (I heard that season 11 was confirmed and also that this was the last season if someone knows for certain please tell me down in the comments) and a lot of things are happening that I was not prepared for. As well as Homestuck ending its year long gigapause, instigating a microgigapause, and then updating every day for a week straight. It is honestly gotten pretty overwhelming after months of radio silence. I am not complaining, it is just a bit too much to take in at the moment.
These are all my reaction

In Supernatural, Rowena, Crowley's mother, has made a bargain with Sam Winchester to translate
the book of the damned in exchange for Sam killing Crowley. Sam struck the bargain to save his brother Dean from the effects of the mark of Cain, which is slowly turning Dean into a demon. The spell in the book of the damned will cause a great tragedy if it is used, so Dean refuses to use it. So Sam has been working on it behind dean's back.

On top of all of that, a family called the Steins is hunting for the book that they used to possess eighty years before. They used the book to cause tragedies like world war two and the hundred year war. They used to be called the Frankenstein family before they had to go underground after Mary Shelly saw their genetic modifications of extra muscle and two hearts. One of them goes after a friend of the Winchesters',, Charlie thinking that she has the book and ends up killing her. Before she died, she was able to crack the code of the book and send it to Sam and Dean. Although Dean will be much more reluctant to try the cure after what happened to Charlie.

Homestuck is a slightly better story, since Cal, the creepy puppet that has been a mult-iuniversial constant since the beginning, turned out to be a seed for bringing Lord English into universes at their ends so he can destroy them. As a giant time traveling skull faced god, he is rather intimidating and tries to fight with the heroes of the story. The heroes must tie his soul to the doll to win the fight, along with a version of one of the heroes, Dirk, and a troll named Euqius.

All of that was communicated through bad claymation by the ultimate villain. Ah, yes, that was worth the gigapause, definitely. It is, however better than the timeline where everyone except Roxy and John died off in a pretty terrible way, considering that they are mostly god tiers, who can only die heroic or just deaths. You would think that they would be less heroic and temporarily evil.

The major difference between the timeline where nearly everyone died and the one we are currently in, is that Vriska is still alive. Although she is my patron troll, I did not like her for most of the story, probably because of the occasional murders and maimings, but I actually sort of like her now. Plus, if it means everyone is alive and have cut the garbage and Davekat is canon, I am fine with this change of events. In a recent update Dave and Karkat were analyzing all of Johns feelings.

So that is what has been happening in both of those fandoms.

How have I changed this year?

Throughout this school year I have become better at writing and less self-conscious about sharing what I write. I normally just shared little ideas for stories and would never let someone read something that I wrote unless I absolutely had to. I think that I feel better that I have expanded my vocabulary as well as learned more about grammar than I probably would have ever wanted to. I am still quiet and reserved in most conversations and in classes, and I do not think that is going to change.

However, I am less afraid that my ideas and bad puns (and yes, there have been way too many puns in these blog posts) will be overlooked or ridiculed and have shared them with people other than my sister. I feel more comfortable talking to people in person, even though writing allows for more editing and revision to make the point you are trying to make clearer.

I have joined more fandoms and met so many people at conventions. It is easy to get sidetracked by my dozens of fandoms and I procrastinate about practically everything except for keeping up with them. I think I have gotten better at managing my time, probably not by much. Although my grades are doing alright, so it can not be as bad as I think. I also cosplayed for the first time and that was cool. I hope that it becomes a tradition to go back to Anime Bonzi for years to come.

How I changed this year
One of my really good friends mother died and she had to live with her extended family, and I miss her very much. Another friend moved to South Jordan and we have not kept in touch very well, and another friend can not go to school anymore because of allergies. I am grateful for the rest of my friends and am really glad that they are here and are so nice to me all the time. I have also found that smashing watermelons in parking lots is really fun, so thanks guys.

I have also volunteered more than I have in the past, and it was so much fun to work at Swaner and Furberbia on the weekends with my sister. I have stopped skiing for the Park City team, and I think that doing that was an important thing for me to do, since I felt like I had to more than I wanted to and it gave me more time to focus on things that matter to me, such as fandoms, friends, and doing well in school. Even though that sounded sort of sarcastic and rude I do actually mean that I like doing well in school.

I have changed very much in the past year and I am proud of what I have done. I felt happy with what was happening in my life, and although High school is more difficult than I expected, based on this past years experience, I think that it is going to be pretty good.

Fandom Terms

It has occurred to me that most people in the world do not know what an OTP is or maybe even what a fandom is. I figured that google would sort of come into play at some point or someone would use the context to learn what some of the things I say mean during my never-ending monologues. I have finally thought that this is probably overdue and I should explain some of my nerd slang.

Courtesy of Pintrest
The word 'fandom' come from mushing the words fanatic and domain into one word, it basically means a group of people that like the same actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. The populations that make up fandoms are called fangirls or fanboys, depending on gender. These people are sometimes really closely knit groups in real life or online. Now, you might be wondering, what do these strange subcultures do besides share a common like for something?

These people sometimes cosplay, ship, draw fanart, write fanfictions, role-play, go to conventions, and worship their actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. Cosplay is when a person dresses up like a character from their fandom and at Anime Bonzi most of what I saw was from an anime or Homestuck. You may have heard of ComicCon or something similar, but it is basically a gathering of fandoms that nerd out together and there are panels where people talk about anything from headcanons to origami to actors talking about filming.

Fanart and fanfics are fan created drawings and stories that revolve around characters in the stories or original characters created by a fan. Shipping is when you like the idea of two characters being in a relationship, and it can be platonic or romantic as well as canon or not. The acceptance of shipping varies from fandom to fandom. A Headcanon is an event or fact that someone likes. An example being that a character is secretly ticklish or what their height is.

Going back to shipping, the ship that you consider your favorite is called an OTP, and although it stands for One True Pairing, most fangirls have a dozen or more. A common word used by all fans is 'feels' as in feelings, because typing out ing is too much to do when your feels have been hurt. Finally an AMV or MEP are some fanart with music playing in the background. They stand for Animated Music Video and Multi Editing Project respectively, the main difference being that more people work on a MEP.

After getting such an amazing crash course in fandom slang, you are ready to dive face first into the world of fandoms and read this blog with a basic understanding of what I am saying some of the time. Either of those, or you are just really very scared and want nothing to do with fandoms or anything like them ever again and have probably stopped reading. Whichever one you are, you can now better understand some of the nerds you will meet.

The Hobbit and the Five Armies

When I was in sixth grade we were given the Hobbit as assigned reading. Now, it is a simple law of nature that even if the book you have to read is something you would like to read in your own time, the fact that it is an assignment practically forces the reader to detest it. I was the only one that actually read the book all the way through instead of relying on spark notes or hoping the person sitting next to me knew the answers to the chapter quiz.

So I really liked the Hobbit and am in the midst of reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy since I got the box set for Christmas. I was apprehensive about seeing the Hobbit movies because although directors have good intensions when changing things to "make the story better" the fans of the book are there to see a movie about the book, not something vaguely based on it. I am still bitter about the Percy Jackson 'movies'. Anyways, I watched the first movie when I was sick and I do not remember much of it, but I felt like it stayed true to the story.

My copies of LOTR and the Hobbit
Besides the dwarf love and general orc shenanigans that went down in the second movie, it was also fairly in sync with the book throughout it. However, leaving three of the dwarves in lake town did not seem like something that the other questants would have done and it was not canonical, but I can live with that. The final movie showed more of the battle than the book, since it was from Bilbos perspective and he was knocked out pretty early in the fight. Then again just leaving out an epic battle for control of a mountain full of gold would have felt sort of cheap and removed the need for a third movie.

 I was sad when Kili and Fili died, but mostly because a twin or both of them always seem to get killed in movies (Avengers) and books(Sea of Shadows). As a twin, I take offense. Plus they seem like pretty good guys. Yes, Kili's romance was heartbreaking and sweet, but that was not all that big of a reason to why his character was appealing to me. Maybe it is a twin thing, but I feel really sad when a fictional twin dies.

It also felt overly heavy-handed when they referenced the Lord of the Rings. There were some scenes that someone would be really confused about if they did not have previous knowledge of the other movies or books. Overall it was one of the better movie adaptations tha
t I have seen, and to be fair I am being rather knit picky when it comes to this sort of thing. I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants a good fantasy movie to watch or story to read and any Tolkienies (that's probably wrong) that are apprehensive about the movies, they are not perfect but they are certainly worth watching.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Rereading Homestuck

Most of the time I will not reread thing that I have already read unless significant time has passed after the first time I have read it. Homestuck however is very very long and with April 13, the anniversary of it's creation quickly approaching, I thought that it would be pretty appropriate to reread it. It is so weird to understand all of the things that are plot relevant and realize when something is hinting at something else, and just like that, I am as hooked in the rereading as I was the first time I read through the story.
A few homestuck characters

I just hope that there is enough time for me to get through it all before the comic is due to start updating once more. The creator Andrew Hussie decided to put the "internet odyssey" on hold to pre write and draw some of the comic in the past year. He began updating on the day it had begun the "gigapause" as fans called it. Since then he decided to go on another break, this time called the "minigigapause" for a few months. Just like with the end of the gigapause, MS paint adventures is probably going to crash, but I cannot wait to finally read more of the story. 

Of course it was fun to be able to watch and read all the Homestuck I could to catch up to the gigapause but it is alright having periodical updates. I have forgotten how confusing it is to read Homestuck, and how funny it is. I have also come to the conclusion that Dave is basically the biggest of all the nerds and I liked it better when their biggest problems were shale monsters and not an immortal Lord of Time bent on destroying everyone and everything in the universe. Ah, the good old days. 

Plus the Youtube comments on the videos are amusing to read, because they are a mixture of new Homestucks confusion, old Homestucks reassurance that they will want to read it no matter how boring or confusing it is, and atrocious puns that deserve an award for their existence. I am at the end of act two where the Wayward Vagabond stumbles across a spaceship in the sand full of food and does what any logical person would do in his place. He built a town out of the cans he found and proclaimed himself the mayor by writing an R on a label for mayo and sticking it to his chest. See what I mean? Homestuck used to be so simple and easy to follow. Just wait until act five, you will see what I am talking about here.

The Amazing book is not on Fire

The Amazing Book is not on Fire
Two of my biggest role models and influences wrote a book together. I may seem calm, but I honestly cannot stop freaking out right now. The release date is October eighth 2015, which seems to be a magical day for book publishings, since the last two years both Blood of Olympus and House of Hades were released on October eighth. 

This seems to be a good years for Dan and Phil since they have started a co-gaming channel, written a book, and announced a tour in the UK that may be taken international (fingers crossed for that). I am really happy for the success of some of my favorite people. The Amazing book is not on Fire tells various antidotes about Dan and Phil’s lives, including Phil’s teenage diary, Reasons why Dan’s a Fail, advice on what to do in an awkward situation, and what happened in Vegas. Dan promised to upload a vlog about what they did in Vegas, although he never did which has lead to much speculation by the phandom. 

They say on their website that they also have a test to see which of their dinning chairs represent you emotionally. I would probably buy it based on that alone. They are going to be uploading a making of video, so we know that the book was not “ghost written” where the celebrity tells a few personal facts and someone else writes it without getting any credit. Many youtubers are partnering with publishing companies like Penguin Random House to write books and Danisnotonfire and Amazingphil really got into all of the choices they could make, like in the book trailer, the cover, and even the texture of the paper. 

I think it will be a well written book with plenty of humor since Phil graduated from the University of York with a English Language and Linguistics degree and Dan is naturally very articulate person if he cares to sound that way. They are both giant nerds if you could not tell from the fact that they have a joint gaming channel, so I am going to bet that there is going to be a ton of silly references.

 I cannot wait for the tips for drawing the perfect cat whiskers, so if you see me walking around looking awesome with loads of sharpie on my face, you will know where that came from. It is kind of difficult to believe that they could keep a secret of this magnitude quiet for so long but i am proud of them for being able to do it. Another thing is that it is already the number 1 book on Amazon after it’s announcement yesterday and thousands of people have pre purchased the book on their website. 


Whatever is in the book, I want it, so I am going to go preorder it right now. The future looks really exciting for the two of them, and I can not wait for what the future might hold for them and their fans around the world.

Grey's Anatomy (or the unexpected virtue of fangirling)

One fateful day on Netflix, my sister and I were looking for something new to watch together, having just finished two animes and the sitcom How I met your Mother. We then stumbled across something that looked interesting on the recommended for you list called Grey's Anatomy. We decided that it would be okay to try it, and we were at season two before the end of the week. There are ten seasons up on Netflix, and the eleventh is currently airing. The rest of this blog post will contain spoilers, you have been warned.

Wow those are a lot of scrubs
This is a pretty great show, and coming from someone who is not a big fan of realistic fiction, I liked it. My knowledge of tumors and how to read a MRI has improved indefinitely. It starts with Meredith Grey and the four other interns assigned to Miranda Bailey as they start their year of internship and the subsequent four years as residents. Meredith's best friend is Cristina Yang a extremely competitive heart surgeon, and the other interns are Alex Kerev, the guy who has the worst human skills ever, Isobel (Izzy) Stevens, the girl who got through medical school by modeling, and George O'Malley, who was basically a human Bambi. In a later season Seattle Grace merges with Mercy West hospital and April Kepner and Jackson Avery are introduced to the group. George also dies in a bus crash after pushing a stranger out of the way and Izzy is diagnosed with cancer.

The Attendings that teach them are Derek Shepard, Meredith's boyfriend (later husband) and top neurologist in the country,  Preston Berek, Cristina's boyfriend, who leaves after Cristina freaks out at their wedding (heart), Addison Montgomery Derek's wife(ob/gyn),  Mark Sloan the reason Addison and Derek split up (plastics). After the first season we are also introduced to Arizona Robins (pediatrics), Callie Torrez who marries George, divorces him, and marries Arizona (orthopedics), Miranda Bailey who is like their mom (General), Owen Hunt an ex-military surgeon (trauma) and the chief of surgery Richard Webber who is like a grandpa (general). Teddy Altman is the heart surgeon that replaces Berek.

The first five seasons are sort of less intense, Meredith reconnects with her dad and his family, including her half sister Lexi a surgical student a year younger than her at Seattle Grace who has an identical memory and the average relationship drama you would expect from such a show. Then there are about five minutes where things are okay before the end of season 5 when things looked good, and then George was hit by a bus, Izzy's heart stopped, and all at once, every season finally got a little worse. There is a shooting and Derek, Lexi, and Richard are the targets, Derek's Alzheimer's research is ruined, and the doctors are in a plane crash that kills Lexi and Mark and causes terrible areophobia for most of the rest of the doctors. Basically every tragedy less than a meteor hitting the hospital has happened, but I am only on season eight, so the meteor strike might still happen.

Despite the occasional trama drama combo it is a engaging story that is fun to watch.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Homstuck Cosplays

I have been looking at a few ideas for a cosplay for the next Anime Bonzi. Since the fandom that I share with the most of my friends is Homestuck, it is a safe bet to assume that we will be doing a group cosplay of it. Last Amine Bonzi we planned to go as Homestuck one day, Fairy Tail the next (mostly because Milly is oddly very persuasive), and have the last day be a sort of free for all madness day. Sadly I did not make the last day and missed out on interesting panels, Japanese candies, and a truth or dare game that I am more than a bit happy to have skipped. The other two days cosplays turned out well, with the exceptions of the loss of a wig and the fact that Tavros's giant bull horns are not meant for crowded spaces and therefor broke about five or so times.

It makes sense to do a cool group cosplay, and no one wants to cosplay a reference that they do not get, so Homestuck is a good solution. I think that I would like to cosplay either Vriska or Karkat, since I think a Vriska would be cool to do and I have the horns for Karkat. It might also be fun to try Tavros again, maybe with crowd friendly horns this time. Any of the Alpha or Beta kids would be fun to cosplay as well, it is so difficult to chose which one I would want to cosplay the most, but probably Jade. I feel like she is the kid I look the most like, and she is not a usually cosplayed character when Godteir. At least I did not see any Godteir Jades at the convention.
I have seen a few amazing cosplays on google images and if I am being honest, they were intimidatingly good. So for the past few weeks I have been simultaneously being inspired to make a fantastic cosplay and scared that anything I do would not be nearly as good. I would have loads of fun making something as intricate as that no matter what it turned out looking like.

I would also have fun cosplaying a supernatural character like Sam Dean or Cas. There are loads of Hetalia cosplayers so a chibitalia (baby Italy) or Canada. Maybe even a Nordic like Finland or even Denmark. The possibilities are endless (Actually around 50 or so but whose counting?).  I know that my friends would probably want to go as their favorite trolls like they did last year, Sollux for Milly and both Terezi and Nepeta for Alice, but if we got another person going as Godtiered Alpha or Beta kids would also be very fun to go as. That sounds like a good plan, now I will just have to go find someone to turn into a proper Homestuckian. Well, I have until September so I may just have enough time to convert someone into a Homestuck, wish me luck! Oh and for anyone looking for a cool cosplay help, here is the best website for that.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Soul eater

Recently my sister and I have started watching an anime called Soul Eater. It is about a school run by Death for misters (the ones wielding the weapons) and their weapons, who are people that can become scythes, swords, and other weapons. They fight evil humans and monsters, and to become a death scythe, they must kill and consume the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch. The main characters are Maka and her weapon Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, Death the Kid and Liz and Patty, and Crona.
Maka is the daughter of Death’s Scythe, and after her parents divorce, does not want anything to do with her dad, but has to deal with him regularly because he works at her school. She is very good at sensing other souls around her and creating strong soul bonds with teammates. Soul is from a family of musicians who he left to go to Death’s school, DWMA. He is also great at playing the piano, but hardly ever does because of his family.
Black Star is obsessed with always being the center of attention in every situation, and is dead set on being the one who transcends God. Tsubaki is really sweet and always looks after Black Star, even when he does something stupid. Kid is as the name implies, the son of Death. He chose to go to DWMA, even though being Death’s child he could have skipped school and immediately become an official meister, he did not. He also has a weird thing about symmetry, and can not fight or concentrate when things are asymmetrical. Liz and Patty are American sisters chosen by Kid as his weapons so he would not have to be asymmetrical while fighting. 
Crona is the demon blade, which means that Crona very powerful and his blood is black and can cause madness in other people. Crona was controlled by the witch Medusa and fought against the rest of the main characters, but they eventually become friends and Crona attends DWMA to learn to fight witches. He is also my sister’s favorite character in the show.
Left to right: Black Star and Tsubaki, Crona,
 Maka and Soul, Liz Patty and Kid
At the end of the second season, it is revealed that the reason Death started the school was that he had to use his soul to bind a powerful enemy in a prison underneath the school to prevent him from escaping. Even with him miles underground, drained of blood and trapped in a bag of his own skin, Medusa was able to revive the Kishin with Crona’s black blood, adding to his madness. It is not always that serious, and is actually incredibly funny, since many of the adversaries are not scary and Death is like an over enthusiastic teacher with really no idea what he is doing most of the time.

So if you are looking for a good anime to watch and have yet to see Soul Eater, I would defiantly recommend watching it because of the humor, amazing storyline, great lovely characters, that add up to an overall beautiful story.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

shadow and Bone Trilogy review

Last summer when I was visiting my aunt we went to the bookstore and bought me the first book in the Grisha trilogy. The main character Alina is part of the first army of Ravka (fictional sort of Russia), which is basically the regular army. Her troop is scheduled to go through the fold, land that became dark and full of monsters after the black heretic unleashed his power apon the land. While traveling through, they are attacked by monsters called Volkra and Alina’s best friend Mal is attacked, and Alina discovers that she has the power to summon sunlight. In this world, there are people called Grisha, who can heal, stop hearts, invent new objects, and summon things like fire, wind and water.
Alina is the only person who can summon sunlight and her talent interests the Darkling, a man who can summon the darkness, and she is drafted into the second army, which is comprised entirely of Grisha. I really liked this series even though it is a little more serious than what I am used to reading. The author, Leigh Bardugo is a talented writer who was able to successfully create such an stunning world with relatable dynamic characters. 
From Leigh Bardugo's website
Another brilliant author, Veronica Roth the writer of the Divergent series, gave a good review for the book that made me want to read the book even more than I already did. It has a fantastical theme to it obviously, but it also manages to incorporate elements of real life into it in a straightforward way, like the abuses of power and manipulation inside of Ravka’s court. It has a few twists that I did not see coming and a few that I did as well (not to brag but it was obvious), and they are rather shocking, so for those that want a good fantasy drama with adventuring and consorting in the palace, this is an excellent book.

I have also heard that a Harry Potter producer has picked up the rights for a movie adaptation, so for those that do not like to read longer books, it may be available to watch at the movies. As always with book adaptions, there will be some inaccuracies, but so far it looks like it has the potential to be a great movie. I would be especially interested in how they would make their powers look. As I said in an earlier post, Alina is my favorite character, but her best Grisha friend Genya has become one of my favorites after reading the most recent book. Genya is a “taylor” or someone who can alter the appearances of others as her Grisha talent and is technically a servant to the queen and not part of the second army. She is still an amazing and strong character. I am still not quite finished with the last book, but I really like them and would recommend them strongly to anyone in need of a world to get lost in this week.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

About Demon Dean

Hey Supernatural writers, I do not want to sound ungrateful, or like I am questioning your story writing abilities, but, with all due respect, no. Demon Dean (Deanmon) is a pretty cool cracked version of a character, along with the likes of Soulless Sam and Crazy Cas, but if it all ends with Dean being forced to kill Crowley, Cas, then Sam as Cain predicted, I probably will not be a functional human being for at least a few weeks. Probably much longer. 

In the most recent episode, Cain went out of his mind and started killing his blood relatives -and being the son of Adam and Eve, that is a lot of people- and the only way to stop him was by killing him with the first blade, a weapon that could only be controlled by Cain or Dean. A weapon that makes Dean turn into a demon a little more with every use. In their final showdown, Cain tells Dean that he is destined to live out Cain's story backwards, killing his friend (Crowley), then his love (Cas), and last his brother (Sam).

After nine and a half seasons,  people tend to get a bit attached to their favorite characters. Never mind the fact that between Sam and Dean alone, they have had 117 deaths, 103 occurring only with Dean in a single episode. Besides that episode, the most amount of deaths between them was in season 5, but hey, it was their first apocalypse, so some mistakes were bound to be made. Wow, I should be much more accustomed to the idea of their deaths by now.

Back to the point, it has been ten seasons (technically 9 7/12) and I do not want the entire show to lead to such a heart wrenching final scene. I would nearly rather have a cliffhanger like season two of Sherlock that we will cling to and have more than a thousand theories about as we drift into insanity. What ever happened to the common decency that is letting characters have a happy ending? It could still end tragically with their deaths, but they could go to heaven and be with all of the people that they loved and lost, like their mom, Ellen, Jo, Cas, and Bobby. That sounds like a satisfying ending that is both  happy and plenty traumatic.

It is good that the show is not going to end this season though. One more year for the writers to decide what they are going to do and weather or not to crush every fangirls and Deans soul like an bug. I hope they will at least consider trying to keep the shred of humanity deep, deep, within every Supernatural fans heart from being totally and absolutely obliterated this time around.


Anyways those are my feelings about the most recent episode and the events within it while I am waiting for the next episode in the series. Also I want to say hi to everyone that I have found out to be a Supernatural fan in the past few weeks, so hello Aliegh, Alice, and Mr. Coleman. I am really sorry if this spoiled anything for you, and that I would not tell you that Cas did not die at the part where you are at, it was funny to see your reaction.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Fandom Rules

There are a few rules that all fangirls should hold themselves to, somewhat like an honor code. Some are just plain common sense, like not spoiling a book, or a recent episode of a show. Others seem like they should be common knowledge, but are sadly not, like never insulting someones OTP, favorite character, or fandom, no matter what. Not only is it horribly rude to do, but death will likely occur. Here are a few of the most important fandom rules of any fandom.
Lots of Fandoms
1. Never judge a fandom by the fan, and never judge the fan by the fandom. Like with anything, one person is a bad representation of a group, and their fandoms are not be an accurate way to tell anything about them. Stereotypes are not something that should be a part of fandom culture.

2. Do not make other fangirls feel unaccepted. Since we are a subcultre, some fangirls do not have any friends that they can talk to about their fandom, head canons, or other fandom related things. It is of upmost importance that everyone is always kind to each other, like they say, “Birds of a feather stick together”. 

3. Good fandoms must be accepting of other fandoms, unless there is a fandom war going on between them. Fandom wars have no rules, so they get incredibly terrifying and should be avoided at all costs. Unless they have insulted your fandom, then destroy them without a trace of mercy. Like when Supernatural star Jared Padalecki insulted Justin Bieber and its fans pledged to stop watching the show. Supernaturals next episode was the most watched episode in the shows history. Haha. Although when Homestuck and Hetalia used to fight, it got scary.

4. To reiterate the point, OTPs (One True Pairings) are not to be messed with. Seriously. People are dangerous when something they love that much is threatened. Even if it is the most vile NOTP (anti-OTP) possibly imagined, someone loves it and you will probably need an exorcist to calm them down if it is insulted.

5. If an actor, youtuber, or celebrity expresses that they are uncomfortable being shipped or having their character shipped, just do not do it. It is not easy for them to say they are uncomfortable, and ignoring them and their request will lessen their opinion of the fandom and cause problems in their lives, like with youtubers KickThePj and Crabstickz. Although if they are fine with it like the vast majority of actors and such are neutral or even supportive of the ship, like Misha Collins, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, and basically every Hetalia voice actor. Respecting our idols is very important, and the last thing we would want to do is to make them quit doing the job they love because of us.

I have seen so many fans doing these things lately, and it is really not okay. It is about time that fangirls started treating each other, actors, and characters with respect.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Pottermore

After finding a Harry Potter house quiz and finding out that I was a Hufflepuff (the best house) I happily told my friends. Only then did I learn that to find your true house, it is paramount that you only listen to "Pottermore" the website designed by queen J.K. Rowling, for the most accurate test on where the sorting hat would put you.

I was both excited and nervous to find out, so in my typical nervous habit, I waited as long as I could before actually doing something important. So, after signing up, I first had to take a test to figure out which wand I would have and personally, mine is a really nice one, although apparently it is also like the one Lucius Malfoy owns, but Harry's wand was Voldemort's wands twin, so having a villains wand can not be that bad.
My lovely wand here's the sign up link

Then it was time for the moment of truth where I would find out if I had what it takes to be a Hufflepuff. Most of the time with character tests and the like it is easy to spot what answers to give to get what you want, but with this test I had no idea. Then, the quiz was over and I saw what I was. I was now most officially the newest member of Ravenclaw. They are all really nice houses and I am rather happy with what I got.

The game also gives the player wizard money, also known as Galeons. With the money you can purchase a multitude of items, including potions items and messenger owls. I am not very good yet at handling potions, but they are fun to make and important for winning the house cup.

 With each successfully brewed potion, the house the brewer is in will receive house points. The house with the most points by the end of the year wins the cup. Houses can also earn points by being excellent finders, good friends, or winning duels. It is a friendly competition that also breaks all of the house stereotypes in the best ways. 

I have also seen the Daily Prophet, the Harry Potter version of a tabloid paper that no one should believe a word of, but for some reason think that it is absolutely true. The pet shop was cute and included a half dozen owls and cats. Eventually I had to pick a Barn Owl because my aunt gave me a book about them that was really nice and gave me more feels than an owl should.

That was my complete experience in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, it was really cool and for any potter head out there not yet on Pottermore I would highly recommend signing up and I hope you get your favorite house. Then for any muggles, you ought to read the books or watch the movies, because they are awesome.

Dan and Phil

I have recently discovered another thing to be totally obsessed about. Youtubers danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil.  They are British best friends who make videos about their lives and vlogs (video blogs). Both of them are tremendously funny and give surprisingly good advice. 

They are some of the most popular people currently making these sorts of videos, but other ones I like are Tyler Oakley and animators Domics and OnlyLeigh. All of their channels are pretty comedy orientated and binge watching all of their videos has a part in why when I sit down to do homework I never get anything done. 

Back to Dan and Phil, together they also have a gaming channel, creatively named ‘DanandPhilGames’ where they play games such as Five Nights at Freddy's and the Sims 4. On Dan's main channel he does ongoing segments called Reasons Why Dan’s a Fail!, Internet Support, and What not to do at the (beach, public transport, town, ect.). 

And Phil has invented many popular youtube tags. Some of them are the Toilet tag, a silly Q&A video, the Seven Second Challenge were he obviously has to do a challenge the person he is playing with tells him to in seven seconds or less,and the Explore my Brain tag were he talks about his thoughts. Since they live together they regularly appear in each others videos and help each other with video ideas, which is pretty nice of them.

Dan's channel trailer
Phil's Channel Trailer
Together they host a popular radio show on BBC1, and because of that UK Disney asked them to have cameo roles in their new movie Big Hero 6. I want to see that version just for the five seconds they are going to be speaking. Phil also voiced an emo goose for the app crossyroad.

Together they have been nominated for these awards in their youtube careers, Shorty Award for YouTube Star, and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Collaboration. Dan has over four million subscribers and they have ongoing jokes about how long it takes for him to upload a new video. Quite honestly there are pretty big pauses in between each of his videos, but it is ok with me as long as he stays a part of youtube. phil has a little over two million subscribers and has a end segment on most of his videos called “Draw Phil Naked” and I do not think that I can explain that to make it sound any less weird.

Both love Pokemon, Doctor Who and many different animes, which is why I started reading death note and watching the best ever Attack on Titan series. Well, that and the fact that three of my friends would not stop pestering me about reading/watching them, and ok, you guys were right I love them, you win for peer pressure.

Seriously, they are some of the best people on youtube, and if you want to check out my favorite episodes of theirs, here is Stuck on a Roller coaster by Phil Lester where he 'nearly died', and here is Dans video What Not to do on Public Transport where Dan accidentally got his head stuck in a subway door. Yep, I am proud to call these guys my role models.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A Fangirls Christmas

Ah, the holidays. One of the best and worst times of the year to be a fangirl. Now like anyone I love all of the gifts and tasty holiday foods, but leading up to getting presents is maddening. Let me explain.

Before the holidays, everything I want either can not be found, or, like this year, my parents ask me to go along with them on their christmas shopping for me. Way to ruin the magic. I mean, I get it it is difficult to figure out what to buy someone, but asking them what they want seems a little better than telling them to pick out what they want in a TJMax. 

It is also awful trying to pick out something that a friend or family member would like when they have different tastes than you. This here is a common problem everyone suffers from, especially those who, like me, do not understand how not everyone wants an Attack on Titan Eren plushie, or a god tier hero of heart shirt from Homestuck. 

Although, by far the worst thing about it is that I do not know what books I will get that year. This means that to avoid reading a potential gift, the entire month of december turns into a book deprived sadness month. I am not being dramatic, every year it means I have to deal with reality much more than usual. It is exhausting. Seriously how do people live with only reading very little or not at all? It makes me crazy to go to school, or anywhere really, without a trusty book. 

I even brought 16 books on a cross country road trip to Michigan and was worried it would not be enough for what I then though would be a month long trip that turned out to be a little over twice as long. Thankfully the books held out with some meticulous rationing and Netflix binge watching.
Hero of Breath






Another thing that tends to happen all the time is that I will receive a book that I already have. The current record is held by The Book Thief, one of my favorite books of all time, but when you have three copies of that book, it gets to be just a bit too much. Bookshelf space is slowly disappearing while the new books are quickly piling up. For the record I do like using my kindle to read, but there’s something really nice about owning a real life book, like hi lighting it, dog-earing pages (my biggest pet-peeve in library books), and books legitimately smell absolutely amazing, do not judge me just visit a book store and you will get what I am talking about.
Heart T-shirt 
Anyways, Christmas this year was very good I got tons of cool gifts, had fun with my family, and I think everyone got what they wanted this year. This year I got a Misha Collins t-shirt, two Homestuck t-shirts and a Dan and Phil t-shirt TARDIS socks a weeping angel tea mug and 4 books. It was a super awesome break and it made going back to school even more difficult (no offense), but I hope you had a good holiday and appreciate how tough being a fangirl is during the holiday season. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

Top 10 books of 2014

At the beginning of last year I made a resolution that I would read 50 or more books in 2014. I finally finished halfway through December. Anyways, I thought it would be a good idea to share the top ten books that I read in 2014 along with favorite characters and scenes of the books.

The Beginning of Everything—A tenis prodigy is injured in a car accident and over the course of his last year in high school gets in touch with his inner nerd. My sister recommended this book to me and after the events of the first few pages I was seriously doubting her. Trust me though, it’s actually an amazing book. Favorite scene was the debate tournament *cough* join debate *cough* and Toby was my favorite character.

Blood of Olympus—Since it is the last book, I don’t want to spoil it, so I will simply say it is about children of the greek and roman gods fighting monsters to save the world. The Percy Jackson books are some of my absolute favorite books, and I loved The Heroes of Olympus too, so it was really sad to see it come to an end but good that it ended on such a high note. My favorite character was Piper and the best scene was Leo fighting the medicine gods protecter.

Shadow and Bone—In a land torn in two by a mythical darkness full of monsters called the void, Alina and her best friend Mal are in the army passing through the void. Alina soon finds that she has magic no one else possesses that could save her country. Thanks to Aunt Barbara for buying me this book this summer. My favorite character for this series was the main character Alina and my favorite scene was the second time Alina travels through the fold.
Shadow and Bone Website

Legend—It follows June on her mission to find her brothers killer, Day, the other main character in dystopian western America. The street fight is my favorite scene and the character is Day.

Frozen—No, this is not about the movie. The world has frozen over and Natasha Kestal is desperatly searching for “the Blue” a mythical land of warmth and magic. She hires Ryan Wesson and his crew to take her to the Blue. My favorite character was Shakes and my favorite scene was when they rescue a stranded ship.

Milkweed—This was the second time I read this book,  and it still managed to make me cry and left me feeling more than a little shellshocked. I guess you don’t read World War two books unless you want to feel that way, but still. My favorite character was Misha, (coolest name) and my favorite scene was when he was being hit to get the lice off of him.

Squashed—The story is about Ellie, who is trying to grow an award winning giant pumpkin. I bought it at the library sale and it is the funniest and most original book that I bought that day.My favorite character was Roger and the best scene was the weighing contest.

Hero—The story follows Saturday Woodcutter on her adventures trying to find her brother and freeing a trapped lord on the worlds tallest mountain. It was sort of a silly book, but I have that sort of humor so I laughed too much. My favorite character was Betwix, a shapeshifter animal. My favorite scene was the first visit to the gardens.

Fangirl—The main character Cath, is starting college with her twin sister who she feels abandoned by, while also trying to finish her massively popular fanfiction and pass her advanced writing class. Ok, I’m not in college and my fanfiction is not that popular, but otherwise Cath is me. Favorite character is of course, Cath and the fanfic reading was my favorite scene.

Rainbow Rowell's Website


The selection—The main character America reminds me of my friend Mazana, who recommended it to me, and sadly moved a few weeks ago. In the futuristic society of IlleĆ , thirty-five  girls are randomly selected to get the chance to marry the prince. The character is America and her maids taking care of her and vice versa.