11.17.2015

Currently... (14)


"Currently..." updates will be every 2 weeks or so. Going to try to update on Tuesdays when Katy Upperman posts hers.

I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!


LOVING
  • The fact that my poem is out in the world now!!! I hinted at this a while ago, but I sold a poem to STRANGE HORIZONS, which is pretty freaking cool. I sold it in August (can you say birthday gift?), and it is now up for you to read.
  • It's called ACTAEON, and if you're familiar with that myth, well, you'll have an idea of what it's about. I'd love for you to take a look!
    I posted a few thoughts about the poem at the Girl on the Roam blog, and I'd would love to hear from you. :)
  • Two of my besties celebrated their birthdays this weekend (one of them is our very own Alz!), so that was a fun time. We watched National Treasure to go with the theme of the recent East Coast trip, and we made custom sweatshirts. I can't wait until we get them. :) Three of us also accidentally matched; we all wore our Hamilton (musical) Squad shirts!

  • My newest Jordandene shirts! I ordered this Tolkein quote one because it speaks to my wanderlust, and it is one of my new favorites. Jordan also sent me a surprise in the form of an extra shirt, which I also love! The Narnia shirt is perfect for those days when I need a little extra encouragement.


WATCHING
The Walking Dead, which is agonizing for spoiler-y reasons. But I just need to know. Just tell us already!!


READING
I finished LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD VOL. 3, which wrapped up the series, and I loved it. Such a fitting story arc for the god of mischief. The themes about choice and the nature of story were so good. I love that stuff (which is why I adore the HAMILTON musical so much - also a story about the power of stories).


LISTENING
HAMILTON album (obviously).

Halsey's BADLANDS album.


ANTICIPATING
Marvel and Netflix's JESSICA JONES! So excited for this.

MOCKINGJAY Part 2! I'm going to be so sad after!


WISHING
Good things for the world. Let's have more positivity and compassion, and less of the bad stuff.


THINKING ABOUT
My next outfit! It's November, so that means it's time for Set To Stunning's NERDVEMBER geek chic challenge. Some of my favorites so far.



MAKING ME HAPPY




  • All the meet-ups with friends I've had this month. I finally met up with Megan, the Nerdy Girlie, before she leaves Los Angeles, and it was perfect because we went to her favorite pie place, Republic of Pie. I appreciated her enthusiasm for my embarrassing history/Hamilton geekery, and of course, the pie was delicious.



  • Another meet-up with friends involved our seeing Benedict Cumberbatch's HAMLET, which was excellent. I loved the staging. It reminded me a lot of Sleep No More (the interactive Macbeth theater experience we tried in NYC) actually.
  • We were also celebrating our COMIC CON 2016 badge-buying success! Through Con Squad teamwork, we were all able to get the days we wanted right before they started to sell out! Such a relief! Go Squad!

  • The Sis and I also finally tried Boiling Crab for the first time, and it was pretty great. Messy, Cajun seafood deliciousness.



What is your currently?

11.11.2015

The Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

Kristin aka SuperSpaceChick tagged me in this very comprehensive Ultimate Harry Potter Tag (they weren't kidding with that title). Like her, I was excited when I saw what it was because it's a nice way to really look back at the series (books and films) and my feelings towards it all.



GENERAL

Favorite Book?


The Prisoner of Azkaban - It introduces some of the coolest magical items (time turner! Marauder's Map!) and some of my favorite characters (the Marauders!) in the entire series. Not only that, I feel this is one of JKR's most tightly plotted novels. The time travel is clever; the backstory and mystery is rich; and there's just a lot of fun! Not to mention, this is the only book where Voldemort is actually not the main villain in the plot of the book.


Least Favorite Book?

The Order of the Phoenix - and not just because the pages of CAPS LOCK Harry seemed a little excessive. I understood why Harry was generally moody and unpleasant, the plot itself even explains some of it, but this book was massive, and there were honestly sections of it where I was like do we really need to know this / have this scene here? I know this book is like the bridge book between the early books into the epic ending arc, but I still maintain there could have been a few things trimmed and/or tightened up. I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book because they had to cut things for necessity!

I mean, when my sister read it (before I did), she almost gave up. She was in the last quarter of the book when she stopped reading for a month because the chapter she was on was so uninteresting to her that she felt little desire to continue. Eventually, she finished (after much prodding from me), but this is the kind of thing I'm talking about.


Favorite Movie?

The Prisoner of Azkaban - no one is surprised. Or maybe you are because the movie did leave out the richer aspects of the Marauders backstory. BUT I think the movie did a great job of distilling things down to what's most important, and I loved how much Alfonso Cuarón expanded the Hogwarts grounds (the bridge, the clocktower!) and loosened up the look of the kids. No more perfectly tied ties or tucked shirts, and casual clothes on the weekends! The movie world was already so richly detailed, but some of these changes breathed a different kind of realism into the characters.



Least Favorite Movie?

Uh, maybe Chamber of Secrets (spiders, auuugghh)? Possibly Half-Blood Prince. I remember very little of the latter...



Favorite Quote?

There are so many good ones! Probably this one...

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore
But I also particularly like this one:

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?” - Albus Dumbledore

Favorite Weasley?

Can I pick the twins? They're a unit. I can't just pick one.


Favorite Female Character?

Hermione is an obvious choice, but I want to say Luna Lovegood. I love her quirkiness and how she's brave in a way that isn't as obvious as the bravery Harry and the gang exhibit.



Favorite Villain?

Umbridge - let me explain. She's my favorite villain in that I have never felt such a visceral hate for a character as much as I have towards Umbridge. She is a terrifyingly real type of terrible person. So, she makes a great villain!


Favorite Male Character?

Lupin! He is kind and wise, and he was a real mentor to Harry that revelatory third year of school. And he remained a steadfast source of guidance and support for Harry afterwards. I love that despite his own difficult life, Lupin did not become an embittered, mean person.


Favorite Professor?

See above! Professor Lupin! I wish he had been able to teach longer at Hogwarts. He was probably the only really competent Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Harry's class ever had. Also, anyone who suggests I eat chocolate to feel better is wonderful in my book.


(McGonagall is a very, very close second because she is super awesome.)


WOULD YOU RATHER

A) Wash Snape's hair or B) spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself?

Actually, I'd rather wash Snape's hair because its natural oily state would probably gross me out. So given the chance to fix that? I'm taking it! (And this will hopefully take less than a day to do.)


Duel A) an elated Bellatrix or B) an angry Molly?

Bellatrix. Elation could lead to miscalculation, and c'mon, you never mess with an angry mother.


Travel to Hogwarts via A) Hogwarts Express or B) flying car?

Hogwarts Express! Trains are magic, and I'd like to enjoy the scenery while eating chocolate frogs.



A) Kiss Voldemort or B) Give Umbridge a bubble bath?

I think this would entirely depend upon 2 things. 1) Are we talking pre-snake-face Voldemort? and 2) can I drown Umbridge in the bath?


A) Ride a Hippogriff or B) Ride a Firebolt?

Hippogriff. I like horses, and so I think it'd be cool to fly a horse-eagle hybrid.



Is there a character which you felt differently about in the movies vs. the books?

Augh, I feel like there is but I really can't think of one in particular. Maybe I'll come back to this question some day... after a movie marathon or something.


Is there a movie you preferred instead of the book?

Books always win, but if I had to pick one- Order of the Phoenix. As I mentioned above, I thought the book was a little too long, and the movie (by virtue of being a movie and having a time constraint) cut down on the fat. Also, it was much easier for me to witness Harry's anger and angst than it was to read it in pages of CAPS LOCK.


Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?

I honestly liked both of them for different reasons. But Michael Gambon's sometimes too-intense Dumbledore reactions will never not be funny. (Particularly, this scene.)



Your top thing (person or event) which wasn't included in the movie that annoyed you most.

Neville's backstory. It's barely in the movie, and I get that things always have to be cut, but I thought it was a real shame that this was one of the things. Of course, the movies still make Neville out to be the hero that he is, but the books gave it more nuance and kind of made it more meaningful because we discover how closely his story relates to Harry's - and how Voldemort and one prophecy drastically affected both boys. It's one of the really wonderfully done parts of the series about different kinds of tragedies and different kinds of heroes and how even when it comes to "destiny," there's always still an element of choice.



If you could remake any of the Potter movies, which would it be?

I feel like it's been so long since I've seen some of them that I have no answer to this. I liked them. I don't think I'd remake any of them...


HOGWARTS

Which House was your first gut feeling you'd be a part of?

Ravenclaw!


Which House were you actually Sorted into on Pottermore (or another online Sorting quiz)?


Ravenclaw. Like even Buzzfeed's "what House does your pizza choice put you in" quiz had me in Ravenclaw. Wit beyond measure, bitches. ;) (And apparently, great taste in pizza.)


Which class would be your favorite?

Charms.


Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn?

It's a toss-up between ACCIO because I'm lazy and can never find things, and how to Apparate because think of all the time I could save on commuting!


Which character at Hogwarts do you think you'd instantly become best friends with?

Hermione! Because we've got the same priorities. ;)


MISCELLANEOUS

If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?

Um, you have read the story of the 3 Brothers, right? Is this a trick question?



Is there any aspect of the books you'd want to change? (Character, event, anything.)

Can we make Cho Chang less uncool? When Cho first came on the scene, I was excited because I had yet to encounter a book where a seemingly popular and nice girl was the main character's love interest and she just happened to be Asian. And then she was just kind of there, and then she wasn't trustworthy, and then she was sort of redeemed, and that's it. All of that is to say, she was most prominent when was "the love interest," and then she was just written off. She never played a bigger role or even really became a friend to the core group the way other secondary characters did - like Luna and Neville. It seemed like she could have been more and certainly better utilized.

And also, I'd leave off the Epilogue in the last book. I'm happy to know the trio are living nice lives with their own families and such, but that's what I would have assumed. I did not need to read it.



Favorite Marauder?

Remus Lupin. (I do love Sirius Black a lot too though, but Lupin has my heart.) You know, he was the most sensible one of the group, the one that probably kept the others from getting themselves killed and/or permanently damaged.


If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be?

Fred Weasley! I'm sorry, you just cannot kill ONE twin and leave the other! It's too sad.



Hallows or Horcruxes?

Hallows! Have you not seen what Horcruxes did to Voldemort? I'd like to keep my nose, thanks.



TAG, YOU'RE IT!

Anyone who wants to do this! It's an intense tag, but it's so good for reviewing your love for the Harry Potter series. I'd specifically like to bring this tag to the attention of Jaime Morrow, Erin Bowman, and Tracey Neithercott because I know you're big Potter fans. I know you're all very busy, so do this if you want and whenever you want. :)

11.03.2015

Currently... (13)


"Currently..." updates will be every 2 weeks or so. Going to try to update on Tuesdays when Katy Upperman posts hers.

I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!


LOVING

  • All the Hamilton love because I love that my favorite Founding Father is finally getting some attention! (Not to mention, the musical itself is just crazy good. Seeing it on Broadway was a highlight of the trip, and I loved seeing how it has changed from the Off-Broadway version we saw in February - oh my god, I can't believe that was also this year!)


  • Experiencing the New England fall because wow, I get the hype now. The leaves, the apples, the CIDER DONUTS. *swoon*


  • Book / Writer / Twitter people! So much of my trip wouldn't have been half as fun (or even possible!) if it weren't for the hospitality, recommendations, and general generosity of the friends I've met through the book/writing community.
  • My friends' house-party because they had a Donald Trump piñata, good food, and a karaoke machine in their backyard.



  • Halloween shenanigans! I had 3 costumes this year (witch, Feyre from A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, and a Loki-inspired flapper)!



  • My friends and the Sister took a bunch of photos in costume! Loki was a bee. Then we watched INSIDIOUS and were scared.


  • We went to the opera on Halloween in costume! It was for Moby Dick & the stage design was super cool.



WATCHING
Way too much TV. So I'm just going to take this opportunity to say one of my favorite parts of my History Nerd vacation was vegetating on Tracey's couch and watching ALL THE TV.



READING
I finished WINK, POPPY, MIDNIGHT and what a peculiar, wonderful book. It's hard to describe exactly what it is, but April's writing is always so beautiful and atmospheric. You're in for a treat this Spring. :)


I need to finish up some of the reads I put on hold when I went on vacation, but I'm really looking forward to Sarah Vowell's newest LAFAYETTE IN THE SOMEWHAT UNITED STATES. I love her humorous, historically-bent essays and I love Lafayette! So win-win! :D


LISTENING
Hamiltunes! Jams on jams on jams. I'm obsessed with Burr's First Act song "Wait for It." (You can stream it on Amazon music and Spotify!)

Also, I'm kind of into this podcast called LIMETOWN, which is a kind of creepy, possibly Sci-Fi story told in the style of Serial.


WISHING
That I was still leafpeeping! I know going out to look at the leaves change colors is a thing, but I didn't know until recently that it had a term. I did so much of it on the East Coast, and goodness, no one does fall the way New England does. No wonder they get so excited about it. ;)
THINKING ABOUT
It's that time of year for Kelsey Macke and Jessica Love's annual mug exchange Sip Swap!


I did it last year and thought it was great. I met the geeky wonder woman that is Elizabeth Briggs, and Jessica Love sent me the most awesome mug. It is giant and it says "talk nerdy to me," so really a win all around.

I'd participate again in a second, but since I have a hoarder's level of mugs, I don't know if this is a great idea for me right now - especially since I bought a new mug during my trip...

Anyway, the deadline is this weekend, so do not dally!!


MAKING ME HAPPY
Obviously, I am sad that vacation is over, but I have all the great memories from my nerd trip to think about - and the millions of photos I haven't posted! I'll recap my adventures more fully eventually!

Also making me happy is spending so much time with my friends lately. One of the best parts of the trip was traveling with my faves AND meeting up with new(ish) and old friends alike, and November is shaping up to be weekends full of get-togethers with my favorite people!


(From top left clockwise: Tracey!!, Kim from Bookmunchies, my hilarious college roommate, my witty playwright friend from college who sympathized with my Founding Fathers love!)
(Sarah, again!!)
(The Epic East Coast Trip Nerd Squad!)



The Sister's truly top-notch imitations have been a delight!


SO MANY BOOKS TO READ. AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD READS.


Update me! What's up with you?