Year in Review: Goodbye 2015

I can't believe I'm already writing this post because how can 2015 already be coming to a close?! I feel like so much has happened this year and that it has maybe been my geekiest year yet!

So without further ado, here is my year in review.

My most liked 9 Instagrams of 2015!

JANUARY

• Comic Books: I officially started reading comic books because I could not resist the gender-bending, trippy-beautiful awesomeness that is ODY-C, a retelling of one of my favorite myths, and the mythology and pop culture remixing of The Wicked + the Divine. It's been a slippery slope into more comics since these two.

• Vlogagram: I didn't keep up with this, but it was fun while it lasted. It was nice speaking to you and finally hearing some of you!

• Sons of Liberty: A really dramatic History Channel mini-series about the beginning of the Revolutionary War that I got a tad obsessed with. Why? It starred one of my faves, Ben Barnes, and had an opening theme written by Hans Zimmer. I loved it, and it amped me up for my NYC trip in February.

FEBRUARY

• Los Angeles first times: This month saw my first time on the Metro and my first visit to the famed LACMA Lights installation!

• Riffle: I became the Middle Grade Editor for the reading community site, Riffle!

• Made a movie day out of watching the Backstreet Boys movie with the besties and re-lived our tweenage memories

• Saw Hozier in concert post-debut album drop and was melted by his dreamy voice

• Brunched with newly Californian Sarah Enni!

• NYC Trip: I recap in detail in posts Nerd Trip Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, but essentially I took the Sister to freezing cold NYC to indulge in my history geekery. Highlights were staying with Sarah Goldberg (@sarahbgoldberg), meeting Kristin Hackett (@superspacechick), Sleep No More...

• the Sister seeing Washington Crossing the Delaware, visiting Hamilton Grange (finally!), and of course, seeing HAMILTON Off-Broadway at the Public! Life-changing! Even better, meeting ridiculously talented-creator person Lin-Manuel Miranda afterwards and Javier Muñoz, who played Alexander brilliantly. From this point on, it became my mission to spread the Hamilton love.

All of the Hamiltons! (And that is a life-sized Aaron Bur statue in the back.)

MARCH

• Loki's 3rd Birthday and Eva's birthday!

• Blackmilk: I had one of my Instagram pics reposted by BM, and it featured my history nerdiness!

• Embraced my geek chic.

APRIL

• 1st SoCal-area Geek Girl Brunch: my budding Con Squad and I attended as casual cosplay Avengers, and I finally met the Nerdy Girlie herself, Megan!

• Coachella: Attended my first music festival, which was mostly amazing but also included what is now known as the Night of Hell - in which there were rude people, a stretch of sandy dirt aka "parking lot" that was hell on earth, and drunkards trying to direct traffic.

• Netflix/Marvel's Daredevil: After being underwhelmed by Agents of SHIELD, I was pleasantly surprised by how good Daredevil is and happily binge-watched it all over the course of a week. Was even happier to find out a non-superhero-genre geek friend was obsessed.

• LA Times Book Festival: Always fun, but more so this year because I saw Sarah Enni and got to finally meet Kate Hart and Kirsten Hubbard! Bonus: met funny, bubbly author Emery Lord too!

MAY

• Avengers 2: our movie ticket winning luck held & the Sister and I saw this a week early at IMAX headquarters and got cool tees. (We ended up seeing ANT-MAN early too in early July!)

• Sriracha Factory: thanks to a work field trip, I got to see where the spicy-deliciousness is made and bottled. Fun times riding around in the Sriracha golf cart tram.

• Erica's NPR story: my dear friend produced a wonderful story for NPR about our neighborhood, food, and the immigrant experience. I loved it!

• Disneyland: took advantage of the rarer-and-rarer SoCal Disney ticketing deal and did a whirlwind 2-park day with the best people I know.

JUNE

• Disneyland 60th: the Sister and I went back to Disney just as they debuted their new 60th Anniversary features - including a new fireworks show. Let me tell you, there is definitely something thrilling about hearing "Let It Go" blasted over Main Street while fireworks light up the sky and fake snow flutters down on your head.

• My aunt got a new puppy (Nina!)

• Got obsessed with Years & Years

• Friends and I tried out one of those escape room things and made it out!

• Triple Crown Winner at Santa Anita: Gennia and I used to be super into horse-racing thanks to all the horse books we read as kids. So it's always been a hope that we'd see a Triple Crown winner in our lifetime. 2015 turned out to be the year with American Pharoah definitively winning the notoriously difficult Belmont Stakes and thus taking the crown. We went to see him when he returned to his home track (and our local track) Santa Anita Park!

Photo source: Gennia (@gennia on Instagram)

• East Coast Nerd trip greenlit: Confirmed which friends were going with me to the East Coast in the Fall and bought tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway!!

• Girl on the Roam: I launched a new blog to be more focused on my geeky travels and micro-poetry.

JULY

• Star Wars movie marathon: Started July off right with a movie marathon of all 6 Star Wars movies with friends who hadn't seen them before. They wanted to prep for the new Star Wars movie in December, and the Sister and I wanted a refresher.

• Comic Con 2015: Every year is a different experience. This year was about line drama (bleck), meeting up with more people (yay!), and buying toys (stressful)! Still a good year though because my Con Squad was formed, I met a bunch of Tweeps and author-friends, I got to go to that Star Wars fan concert (squee!), and I got to be in the same room as Tom Hiddleston again (always a win!).

• Meeting Elizabeth Briggs was super cool, considering she once called me the real life version of her More than Fashion protagonist, Julie. Having read some of the book now, I can tell you I'm not nearly as cool as Julie, but Liz is as geeky and awesome in Real Life as she is online!

• Meeting Susan Dennard for the first time and seeing Sarah Maas again was so fun because they are such a dynamic duo. Other than getting their books, it was cool chatting with them about random stuff outside of their signing. I'm kind of proud of making the pug-love-connection between the Sister and Sarah.

• Hamilton on Broadway: Hamilton began previews on Broadway, and I got my Public Theater playbill framed and bought the Vogue issue featuring the cast.

AUGUST

• Poem acceptance: Opened my birthday month with an acceptance from Strange Horizons for my poem "Actaeon."

• Beach bonfire birthday: I blogged about it at Girl on the Roam, but I had a lovely, perfectly Californian summer day at the beach with my favorite people. And I finally roasted marshmallows over a bonfire at the beach.

• Shakespeare in the Park: took advantage of free Shakespeare in the Park to get cultured. Now, I've finally seen Much Ado about Nothing.

SEPTEMBER

• Labor Day weekend: Instead of a big family trip, we did a weekender to the Grand Canyon. It was the Sister's first time and the first time any of us had gone there by train. The unpredictable weather actually made me love the trip more because I never would've dreamed I'd be perched on a cliff, watching lightning flash over the canyon.

• Force Friday: we don't usually get into the major toy-buying craze, but our excitement for The Force Awakens had us scrambling for figures and scooping up our very own BB-8!

• The Sister's birthday: We rang in her quarter-century birthday with the Ghostbusters on a rooftop on a balmy, Southern Californian night in the city.

• End of Summer BBQ- Futbolnaut party: we finally try out the small-human-sized inflatable soccer ball at Gennia's annual summer BBQ. We also race BB-8s.

• Hamilton album drop: the cast album dropped a little early, and to paraphrase a Hamiltune lyric, it blew everyone away. Finally, the world-at-large was getting on my level; I told you this ish was life-changing!

OCTOBER

• The Broad Museum: thanks to Jenn from my Con Squad, we got tickets for early October to visit this new museum in downtown LA. The highlight was the Infinity Mirrored Room, which was completely enchanting.

• Years & Years concert and had the best time.

• April sent me an ARC of her achingly lovely book WINK, POPPY, MIDNIGHT.

• Dear friend Eva threw her belated house-warming and it included karaoke in her backyard!

• Halloween: For the first time in a while, I did some stuff on Halloween & even came up with 3 different costumes (witch / flapper!Loki / Feyre). Attended Sarah's first First Draft Live event on Halloween Eve and went to the LA Opera with friends on Halloween night.

• East Coast Nerd Trip: The absolute highlight of my October (and probably my year) because I got to do so much nerdy history stuff with some of my favorite people. It was made even better by the friends I was able to hang out with and meet along the way. Oh, and there was HAMILTON on Broadway, of course, this time with Lin-Manuel in the lead.

• Trip highlights: the creation of our Hamiltunes/jazzed out Founding Father nicknames; actually seeing Charlie Cox in the wild; all the incredible New England leaf-peeping; seeing my Tweeps (Sarah G, Tracey, Kim) and reconnecting with college friends (Rena, Melissa)!

NOVEMBER

• Hamlet: Con Squad met up to see Benedict Cumberbatch's HAMLET in theaters, and then we had Boiling Crab for the first time.

• Gennia/ Alz birthdays: we always have a great time, but this time was extra special because we watched National Treasure while still high from our East Coast History Nerd trip. This is also when we designed our Hamiltunes sweatshirts.

• Con Squad visited the super cool Rain Room installation at LACMA

A video posted by alice (@akangaru) on Nov 21, 2015 at 6:58pm PST

• Binge-watched Netflix/Marvel's Jessica Jones

• Met up with Megan for a nice brunch at Republic of Pie

• Explored DTLA and went to the Last Bookstore and the LA Library.

• Mockingjay Part 2: we finished off the Hunger Games trilogy with Mockingjay Part 2, but the experience was extra fun because we saw it with YA authors Kirsten Hubbard, Sarah Enni, and Maurene Goo.

• November = Nerdvember: the Sister and I managed to complete another 30 days of geeky outfits!

A video posted by alice (@akangaru) on Dec 31, 2015 at 12:34pm PST

• SDCC Pre-Sale: Thanks to Con Squad, we're all going to Comic Con again in 2016!

• Poem publication: Actaeon was published in Strange Horizons! My first professional sale!

DECEMBER

• Outlander marathon: after our friend was "man-witched" (aka fell in insta-love) with Sam Heughan at Comic Con, we scheduled a marathon for the 2nd half of the first season.

• Holiday cards: I've received the sweetest cards and little gifts from Tweeps this year! I slacked off and didn't send any this year, but I am grateful for your thoughtfulness and friendship! In particular, I loved Sarah's holiday pic with her cat Hammer and geek fashion designer Jordan of Jordandené's Star Wars-themed card.

• Disneyland again: With the Season of the Force in full swing at Disneyland, friends and I opted out of Christmas gifts this year in exchange for this experience together. We met Darth Vader and Chewie, lost our ish in Hyperspace Mountain, traveled to Jakku with Star Tours, and ate delicious, Star Wars-named food. We also wore our custom Hamilton-themed sweatshirts (though sadly, one of our crew didn't make it out) and made some Hamilton friends at Disney!

You want a revolution; I want a revelation!

• Christmas/ Holidays: Ugly Christmas sweaters, reunions with friends!! So lucky to get time with both Michelles this year. In fact, thanks to the East Coast trip, I got to see my other college roommate Rena this year too! Love those gals.

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens: We finally get a new Star Wars movie, and it is so fun. I loved it so much and can't believe how much I love every one of the new cast! I've already seen it twice and will be seeing it again right after the new year. I even participated in a podcast about it. Oh, and earlier in the month, we met the actual BB-8! *loooove!!!*

How can you not love this new Star Wars trio??

• Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac): Lastly, I have to end December with how instantaneously we all fell in love with Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens. That man was just straight up fire in that movie, and it has been a long time since I've been man-witched so hard. Gennia and I actually leaned forward in our seats and shared a look when Poe first came on screen.

• Let me give you an idea of how hard we've fallen. 1) We've had a non-stop chat dedicated to him since seeing the movie the night of 12/17; 2) we already made shirts; 3) we may or may not have delved back into the world of fanart and fanfiction...

• So TL;DR we're obsessed with the gem of a person who is Oscar Isaac. (Seems like the internet agrees.)

---

I know this year has been hard on a lot of people, and the state of the world itself has certainly not been kind. The state of the world is downright frightening where we leave it now, and so for many - myself included - the dawn of the new year is a bit of a relief because we can all hope for a new page and renewed resolve.

At the same time, 2015 gave me so much good too. I can't emphasize how wonderful it was to meet and hang out with friends I've made online or how amazing it was to make a new squad of friends while becoming even geekier with my OG gals. My travels this year were all domestic, but they were so enriching and delightful and unexpected. I also got paid for writing poetry this year, which is kind of awesome!

One of my favorite set of selifes because look at Loki's face!!

And there is no way that a year that gave me both something as near miraculous as HAMILTON and as thrilling and joyous as the new STAR WARS movie (that there is even a new Star Wars movie!) can be counted as a loss.

Here's to 2016. Raise a glass, and rise up!

5 Fandom Friday (26)

(New Graphic by Darling Stewie)

5 Fandom Friday is a geek-blogger community building project started and hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick. Every Friday, post a top 5 list based on a predetermined topic that can be found on this master post - you can also find more info on the project there. Participate as frequently or infrequently as you like, and if a topic doesn't especially appeal to you, feel free to put your own twist on it.

Also, tweet at @superspacechick or @thenerdygirlie on Friday with your post (and they'll RT) and use the #Fandom5 hashtag so we can all connect!


This week's theme: Holiday Recommendations

I took a flexible interpretation of recommendations, so since I'm a book and movie lover, I'll go with movie + book pairings. These aren't necessarily holiday-themed; they're just things I like that would be nice for a cozy day in.


1) Love Actually + My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories


Love Actually is a modern Christmas classic - the perfect movie for laughs and feels told through a series of interconnected characters' stories. What better book to pair it with than Stephanie Perkins anthology of holiday stories, My True Love Gave to Me, told by some of the best YA Contemporary writers today?


2) Phantom of the Opera + Of Metal and Wishes


The Phantom of the Opera in movie form brings the music, drama, and opulence of the Broadway staple to the comfort of your living room. Can't get enough Phantom? Curl up with Of Metal and Wishes, Sarah Fine's retelling of the tale set in a meat factory in a Chinese-based fantasy world. Throw in a dash of steampunk and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle for an inventive twist.


3) Elf + Holidays on Ice


If the hijinks and heart of Elf leave you wanting more, pick up David Sedaris' laugh-out-loud Holidays on Ice, which collects a bunch of his holiday-related personal essays. This includes his experience as a Macy's elf, which goes nicely paired with this movie. Another fun movie connection? David's sister and fellow funny-person Amy Sedaris is in Elf.


4) Seabiscuit + The Scorpio Races


The holiday season is also the time of the uplifting drama and possible Oscar contender flick. While Seabiscuit wasn't a holiday release back when it was new, it does fit those descriptions. It is also seriously one of my favorite movies (and the book is a fave too), and the little horse that could is a local hero. Set during the Great Depression, it's the story of 3 broken men and one unlikely horse that will give you all the feels.

Given The Scorpio Races decidedly magic-real premise - the book centers around a famous race on a fictional island where they ride killer horses from the sea (based on kelpies of faerie lore) - it seems a little odd to pair with Seabiscuit. But they have a lot in common! The central relationships are about the 2 main characters desires to change their lives and their love for the island and their horses (mystical sea-creature and not), and their story feels as real as fictional as the premise sounds. Not to mention, this book is also a bestseller, an award-winner, and one of my all time favorites.


5) Beauty & the Beast (or Frozen) + A Court of Thorns and Roses


How can I talk about the holidays without a little Disney magic? I always thought Beauty and the Beast had a wintery vibe, and I think Frozen is self-explanatory.

But if you want something just as magical but with a little more bite, try Sarah J. Maas' first non-YA book, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which is a mixed up retelling of the Beauty & The Beast and Tamlin fairy tales. There's curses and magic, fierce family devotion, and steamy romance. To quote Disney's Belle, it has "Far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!" But it's definitely not rated Disney PG.


Bonus:

And obviously, you should watch Harry Potter and the LOTR trilogy because those are permanently linked to the holiday season in my mind. And Star Wars just because. ;)

Enjoy!


P.S. There's also a 5 Fandom Friday photo challenge this month! Join in!

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

• Coming up with posts for the GIRL ON THE ROAM blog. I recently posted about some of my LEAF-PEEPING adventures in New England, and I did a series of photos in gold for the 6 on 6 meme.

• 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?

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. :)