Devil in the White City Review...

Quickie:

I hate this book more than Smaug loves his treasure. If you can, avoid this book at all costs. Don't bother paying for it. If you must read it, be prepared to be bored with excessive detail and romanticized descriptions of historical characters.

Now for the rant.

I have been forced by my English class to read this book. At first I was excited because of the murder and magic aspect as well as hearing about the book before. I read the first chapter with the enthusiasm I usually have when I start a new book. It was a disappointment. I thought for sure the Holmes chapters would be much better. They weren't. I just couldn't read this book because of how terrible it was. I forgot the book over winter break in my locker, though I was far from displeased. I ended up getting the audio book because I need to finish it for class by Monday. It's better as an audio book because I hear every word without that troublesome reading, mind wandering, then having to reread.
Now, for the faults. This book's detail is tiring to say the least. It is filled with side stories and other characters that have no relevance in the next part or page. It's horribly distracting. I don't care if someone was rejected for their design to "out Eiffel Eiffel". I care about what happened, not what could have been. Also, Every character was described as if they were from an airport romance novel. "His startling blue eyes..." "His dark coal hair..." "He was quite a handsome man with..." The details went on and on as if google didn't exist. Apparently Daniel Burnham, the main character of the architecture chapters, was supposedly very attractive with blue eyes and dark hair (I think). Well, the pictures on google would say otherwise. If this is such a fantastic nonfiction novel with extensive research, why are the characters so romanticized?
And the chapters with Holmes. I can already feel my fingers moving towards the Caps Lock. They romanticized him, completely forgot to describe the murders he committed, and had no insight to his mental states. It was horrendous. I heard more about the women he courted to kill and how fantastic of a husband he was (though however cold) than how he actually killed them. I was promised murder on the COVER of the book and I received sly and short suggestions to it. AND WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU ROMANTICIZE A SERIAL KILLER?! YOU WOULD NOT ROMANTICIZE HITLER, CHARLES MANSON, OR JEFFEREY DAHMER, SO WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU ROMANTICIZE H. H. HOLMES?! YOU DON'T DO THAT! That's like romanticizing abusive or unhealthy relationships. OH WAIT! THAT'S TWILIGHT AND 50 SHADES OF GRAY! THIS HORRIBLE ROMANTICISM OF H. H. HOLMES IS NO BETTER THAN TWILIGHT AND 50 SHADES OF GRAY!
That, and there were no dragons. It isn't a good story if there aren't any dragons.
Doodle of the Day:

I was playing with the chalk brush and this is what happened.

Gif of the day:

This is how done I am with that book.

Happy New Year and Aidan Turner

So, it's almost 2014. I kinda succeeded at my goal from last year to blog at least once a month. Sorry about November, but I'd say I did fine. I had a few blogs for a month or two, so it's fine.
So, favorites of 2013
Favorite person I got to meet in 2013: Lauren Messemer. She is one of my best friends and I met her in spring of this year while working on Wit. Absolutely love this girl and she has been the biggest supporter of mine. And she went down town with me and was totally okay when I walked around in a cloak covering my face and hissing at people. She even wore the cloak for a bit. That's a true friend right there.

Favorite celebrity I got to meet in 2013: Has to be John Barrowman. He was so cool to meet and absolutely hysterical. It didn't seem to phase him that I was so flustered that I messed up words. He was super duper sweet and I hope I get to see him again in the future.

Favorite TV series of 2013: I'm trying to remember what I've started watching in 2013... Is it sad that I have to look at my Netflix queue? Come Fly With Me. Best comedy show I've seen in a while. I quote it all the time to my friends and it's kinda perfect.

Favorite Theater Production of 2013: Tommy at the Stratford Theater Festival. It was flawless. It was loud and in your face and a bit hard to follow at some times, but it was fantastic. I loved it. I wish I could see it again, but I can't... And we got to meet the guy who played Tommy and he was super nice! (The guy in the light blue shirt was Tommy)

Favorite Movies of 2013: This is plural because I couldn't decide. I loved Star Trek: Into Darkness. It was such a great film and those cheekbones on Benedict Cumberbatch. Mmm. I got to meet William Shatner before I went too, so that was cool.

Another movie (that pleasantly surprised me) was The City of Bones. Now, I read the book and hated it. But they did a much better job in the movie. The pacing was fantastic, there was a vampire battle put to dubstep, and Jamie Cambell Bower's cheek bones. They're pretty great. I didn't like the excessive use of songs with lyrics in the background, but it was great. And Lena Headey. I fucking love her. Oh, and Aidan Turner. More on him later. Like the next three lines of text later.
 
Also, I loved The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I actually just saw it a week ago and I CAN'T DECIDE IF I LOVE THIS MOVIE BECAUSE THERE ARE PARTS THAT FRUSTRATE ME AND KILI, SWEET KILI, KILLED ME!!! "Do you think she could have loved me?" TAKE MY HEART AIDAN TURNER AND SMASH IT INTO A THOUSAND PIECES YOU PERFECT SON OF A BITCH!!

JUST GET TOGETHER WITH TAURIEL ALREADY DAMNIT YOU TWO ARE TOO CUTE, BUT YOU'RE MY DWARF AND I'M SO CONFLICTED!! JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE! THAT IS THE FACE OF LOVE! STOP IT!

DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE I SWEAR TO THE GREAT SMAUG HIMSELF DAMNIT STOP WITH THE WHOLE TRAGIC ROMANCE THING I CAN'T TAKE IT!!
And that was my official review of the second film in the Hobbit series... moving on...
Favorite actor of 2013: It has to go to Aidan Turner. I know him from 2012 or 2011 when I first got into Being Human, but the Hobbit brought back my Aidan Turner fangirl. I haven't been this obsessive in a while, but the Hobbit (and more so Aidan Turner) threw me back into stalker fangirl mode. I remember even seeing him the The Mortal Instrument and laughing. Not because he was bad or anything, but in Being Human, he was a vampire and in the City of Bones, he was a werewolf. I don't know. I just kinda found it funny. Also, fun fact: In my fan cast of Captain Bones and her Crew, I cast him as Lleu, Lugus, and Diamaid. Yes, all three because they're triplets. So congrats Aidan. See you when we start filming. And I hope you never see this post or forget it exists if you do.



Favorite Actress of 2013: I'm gonna have to go with Daniela Denby-Ashe. She was in the 2004 mini series North and South (with Richard Armitage). I loved this series so much and I love her as Margaret Hale. I read part of the book North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell and I hated the character of Margaret and I much preferred her as portrayed by Daniela. I didn't hate Margaret with her characterization and I actually didn't get annoyed when she did stupid stuff like in the book. I felt for her. 


Favorite Concert of 2013: CELTIC THUNDER WAS SO FANTASTIC AND I WAS TOTALLY CALLED A GROUPIE FOR WAITING OUTSIDE THE STAGE DOOR AND I WAS ALMOST CRYING WHEN I REALIZED EMMET CAHILL WASN'T GOING TO SING ISLE OF INNISFREE BUT ALL OF THEM WERE SO FANTASTIC!!
That is all.
Favorite Comic series of 2013: I was originally going to put The Young Avengers, but I'd have to say Hawkeye now. I just got into the comic after buying the volume 1 collection for Christmas. And I. Am. In. Love. I seriously love it because it is connected, but you don't have to read the previous ones to understand the plot. And Kate Bishop and Clint Barton. I never knew I wanted to ship them, but I do now. So badly. Even though she's a lot younger. I love them.

So, what does 2014 hold for me?
I may be directing a play I wrote entitled "Pomegranate". I'll find out next month or February if I got it.
I'll be continuing teaching myself Gaelic and practice my writing in Anglo-Saxon runes.
Prom. College Visits. Chicago Wizard World. I'm also going to try to get over to England or Ireland over the summer. Perhaps I'll get some practice with my Gaelic! 
That's it. New Year's Resolution is to use the runes whenever I can and to finish Captain Bones. That's what I've got. What about you reading this? Yes you. What are your favorites, maybe least favorites? Let me know!
~ Good night and joy be to you all
Doodle of the day:

Come on. You can't expect me to fangirl and NOT draw Aidan. You just can't. There was too much glare on the lighter version, so sorry!
Gif of the Day:

This is the last time I can ever use this beauty. 

Halloween live blogging as blogger

So... Blogger here. Very few people have recognized me. I blame google for poor advertisement.

1st one person knew who I was. Thank goodness at leas one person recognized me!
2nd no one. :( why couldn't have google done a better job!
3rd. I've become quite bitter about no one recognizing me.
4th Once I tell people, they get it. At least some people get it. I just wish that more people could get it!!
5th. My physics teacher didn't recognize me. But he asked for my blog's URL. *replaces all curse words with PG words*
6th Dean Winchester called me cute and asked to sleep with me. He warned of eminent death. At least it's more attenton than google has given me.
7th My hair began falling off.
8th My math teacher said that "it's a cute idea" Good to know that my existance is a "cute idea"

Well that was it for me today! I'm off to the address of the hotel Dean gave me!
Cheers!
-Blogger

A Street Car Named Production Assistant

Yep. We're doing A Street Car Named Desire for our play, which we hope to take to the state theater festival, and I am the Production Assistant! Hurray! So super excited!
So, I promised I would, so here's a short story about the french student I hosted. Rather, a dialogue.

Student in my French class: What is your favorite English word?
Esther: It's a bad word.
Student in my French class: What does it start with?
Esther: M
Everyone in my class:

Esther: O-T-H

Everyone in my class: 

My French teacher: 

Esther: 

It was kinda sorta one of the most fantastic moments of my life. Seriously. 

Also, just a quickie thingy, I started yet another Blog (please don't hate me) and here's the link: reddiamondstories.blogspot.com That is where you can get updates on Captain Bones as well as a spin off story I started (it's only on there) called the Miscellaneous Adventures of Enola and Prosper. For those who have requested a copy of Captain Bones, they're in chapter 12 or so. And there's another thing I may or may not post. Here's a snippet because I think it's hysterical.

          What do you want from me? She thought in reply. The shadow seemed surprised for a moment, then returned to his neutral state.

          New human. I want to observe you in your habits. You are clearly different than the old humans. None of them can talk to me or hear me. I will accompany you every moment to observe your behavior. Anja tried to comprehend all of it, but it wasn’t working.

          That’s creepy. There have to be limits.

          New human. Limits will hinder my observation. Creepy is necessary.

          I’m not “new human”. I’m Anja.

          New human Anja. I am Freud.

          You’re not Freud. He was a psychologist.

          New human Anja. I am Freud.

          You’re not Freud.

          I am Freud.

          You’re not Freud.

          I. Am. Freud. That seemed to be the end of the conversation. The old woman looked back with a fond smile.

          “I see Timothy has a new friend,” she said.

          “He thinks he’s Freud,” Anja corrected. The old woman tilted her head in curiosity.

          I. Am. Freud.

          “I’m sorry. He is Freud.” 

So there it is. I don't know. It made me laugh... then again, I was the one who wrote it...

-Cheers!

Doodle of the Day:

I can't remember if I uploaded this or not, so here it is.

Gif of the Day:

If you haven't seen the IT Crowd, fix that. It's great.

Another year on this earth!

Oh my god I'm older. Like a full year from my previous anniversary of my birthday. And that's all for today.
I really don't like birthdays. I don't know why, but I don't like them. I actually only dislike my birthday. I don't know why, but I just don't. But I get cake on most birthdays, so that's cool.

The one thing that I want for my birthday though, for the past five years has been Harry Lloyd.

I want that now.

Give him to me.

I mean it.

Even when he looks that creepy, I still want him.

I am waiting for him to be in a large box on my door step.

I could just keep bombarding you with gifs of him.

Okay...

But every time I ask my parents or friends for him, I get a series of reactions. And I have gifs for them.

And I am like

In other news:

School has started after an awesome 1 month of summer vacation for me. During that time, I hosted a french student for three weeks named Esther and OH MY GOD I MISS HER SO MUCH GUYS! She was seriously one of the coolest people I've ever met. We were scary similar too.

I really really miss her. I'll share stories in another post.

Not sorry for all the gifs by the way. It's my birthday. I can do what I want.

Doodle of the Day:

It's Zayn in drag from the "Best Song Ever" video. My favorite part was the beginning with the different characters. The rest was okay...

Gif of the Day:

I love Lilo and Stich. 

I'm ALMOST done

TWO DAYS UNTIL I'M FREE!

I'm so excited, even though I love my summer school class and teacher. They're awesome. But I want to sleep in again! AAAAGH! 6 AM! I should not be waking up at 6 AM during the summer.

Also Chicago Comic Con is coming up, my french friend Ester is coming to stay with me in August, and I'll be able to relax. It's going to be fun times. AND IN OCTOBER I'M GOING TO SEE CELTIC THUNDER LIVE!! THEY ARE THE BEST! I JUST GOT TICKETS AND I CAN NOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!! But, um, anyway...

Also, I figured I'd tell you about a book series that I found that I thought I'd be able to laugh at.

So I was walking down the romance section of my local library, picking out random books and reading the back in an over dramatic fashion to my little brother. I picked one up called Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh. I read the back aloud and thought, "I'm going to read this book and I'm going to laugh at all the clicheness and just have a good time making fun of it." Haha no. 

Yep. It sucked me in by the hopeless romantic and kept me there. I'm not reading the sequel. It's good. Shut up. So it's about this vampire hunter Elena and she gets this job from this archangel Raphael. And he's gorgeous and perfect and completely inhumane. He messes with her mind but she's all like "no buddy. you're not getting into my pants." I don't know why she speaks in lower case in my mind, but she does. She's hot headed, he likes playing with her mind and ROMANCE. Did I say romance? I mean pure sex/constant sexual tension. I swear, they introduce the main plot and objective/job in chapter 2, but they don't actually get around to figuring it out until halfway into the book. But it's okay. It was good enough to read the sequel. Even though the first 18 chapters of the sequel has been, "I want the sexy time." "You can't have the sexy time, but I want the sexy time too." "Then why can't we have the sexy time?" "You're too weak. Okay, maybe a little sexy time." I kid you not, that's what the first chapters have been!

I'm in a good mood. Let's go on a rant while I'm at it.

So Man of Steel. I spent $5 on that movie. It wasn't even worth it. I mean it. I was sitting there through the first 30 minutes, not giving a damn about any of the characters. I didn't give a damn by the end.

And I thought movies were supposed to have solid plots and character development. It didn't have any. How can I care about characters with out development or plot? Lois Lane knew who he was by good detective work in a 5 minute montage. He didn't really hide it. All of a sudden they're friends. And after being separated for most of the movie, they kiss at the end. Oh and the lines post kiss? Gibberish. No enunciation. My theater teacher always said that if he can't hear or understand you, you're garbage. That was garbage. And at the end, when did Lois's boss and two random coworkers begin to matter? Those desperate struggles at the end was their only scenes of importance. They didn't even have names I could remember. They weren't like Phil Coulson, the side character that everyone loves, even though he has a handful of scenes. Maybe I'm just a Marvel fan girl, but it still didn't make sense to me. I liked the evil girl though. She was like second in command or something. She was a badass.

So there's my updates and suggestions. 

-Cheers!

Doodle of the Day:

I did this one ages ago. I know it's shit, but look how far I've come from that!!

Gif of the Day:

I love David Tennant's sass. 

Also:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARAD PADALACKI AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH! Here are some gifs to appreciate. 

 I'm sorry. I'm a bit biased towards Benedict. He came first in my fandom adventures.