"Please excuse my mawkishness Harry but..."

Day #2

...In about 3 hours Deathly Hallows Part 2 is going to start rolling in the theater, and well, then it's going to end. It's been an emotionally draining week to be honest. I've finished rereading the books, and I just finished our HP movie rewatch. I hate being mawkish but MY CHILDHOOD IS ENDING IN 4 HOURS NOOOOOO!! it's going to be....strange, for the lack of a better word, to not be able to call up my friends about the new HP trailer or to not watch a new Rupert Grint interview on Mugglenet.

It is the last couple of hours before the movie so here are a couple of my favorite moments from the series: quotes, fanart and gif-wise. :)

"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley...He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices:

"To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve ft mountain troll is one of them."

- Sorcerer's Stone

What Hermione says (Order of the Phoenix film):

“Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.”

-Luna (Order of the Phoenix)

"It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

- Dumbledore (Chamber of Secrets)

"When in doubt, go to the library."

- Ron (Chamber of Secrets)

"So top grade's O for Outstanding," Hermione was saying, "and then there's A-"

"No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations.' And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."

- Order of the Phoenix

"Percy wouldn't notice a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing one of Dobby's hats."

- Ron (Order of the Phoenix)

(Neville by Forbis)

“We’ll all keep fighting, you know that right, Harry?”

-Neville (Deathly Hallows)

(Lily's Letter by Shyduck)

When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, “After all this time?” And I will say, “Always.”

- Alan Rickman

(Snape and Dumbledore by Kyla79)

‎"No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So, whether you come back page by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

-JK Rowling

I believe that this is what I'm going to be like when I watch the movie. NOOOOOOO I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!!

Because Thursday is the day before Friday

Because it’s Thursday and not Friday yet, I feel obligated to post this:

*****

Last week, I got my hands on a new camera so I scavenged around looking for good photo ops and angles and the like, and I ended up taking this picture:

I just like the colors....and the sun. :D

The sky turned into this like 10 min. later-

I realized that I take pictures of clouds...A LOT. But at least I'm not a cloudy person-hahaha!(All right, all right. I'll stop with the punny joking.)

*****

I JUST got the Girl Who Was on Fire from the library. (You know...it’s that anthology written by a group of YA authors about that one series...er...what was it? The Fire Games? The Hunting Games? The Hungery Games? Oh yeah, THE HUNGER GAMES!!!) I’m super duper excited to read this. I already read some essays that were available online for some time, and they were fantastic. Interesting, in-depth, thought-provoking, well-written, and fun, so I thought I would pick it up. And now it’s here so I can READ the whole thing!! I feel like jumping with happiness.

*****

Um...what else? Well, there’s the new (and pretty good) trailer for the last part of Harry Potter:



Heh. :P (I mean, I am a Harry Potter fan, so I had to stick the trailer in a post sometime.) And I sort of already watched it like 35 times (hmm...or was it 37?) Analyzation (aka Nonie’s ramblings about it): SNAPE! I’m overjoyed (really) to see Snape so many times (epic Snape apparation scene at 1:18 with some amazing music playing in the back) and a glimpse of the Prince’s Tale. I got depressed when I saw Tonks and Lupin reaching for each other’s hands, but the depression turned into happiness when I heard Ron speaking his one line, and when I saw (I think) Oliver Wood (yay!) flying over the castle. And the Battle at Hogwarts scenes with their brilliant special effects made the trailer even more fabulous than it already was (yay for Professor McGonagall’s army!).

Oh, and I really can’t tell you how much I love how the trailer starts with the original Harry Potter theme sort of. (I LOVED the whole trailer, but Harry Potter trailers are always good, and it’s been a while since I heard the original John Williams theme.) The most randomest/most amusing part was the Harry-grabbing-Voldemort-and-jumping-off-a-roof scene. My first thought about that: UMM...Harry/Daniel Radcliffe did NOT just grab Voldemort and jump of a roof. So I replayed it, and I realized that he did, and now I can’t wait to see what that’s all about on July 15th. :P

(And this is random but I just realized that Voldemort doesn’t wear any shoes and seeing him walk bare-footed threw me off for a min. Er, that’s probably because I never thought about Voldemort’s shoes before...that’s a bit weird...okay, I'll stop now.)

*****

Recent Book Recommendations:
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Smiles To Go by Jerry Spinelli

and

The Girl Who Was on Fire (because I already know that I'm going to think that it's amazing by the end of the read.)

I’ll write some reviews soon and actually put some bookish content here, hopefully as soon as AP testing week is over (in only two weeks...eek!). Right now, I need to go back to studying. :)


Happy Thursday!

I'm Sixteen?

Today's my birthday, and shockingly, that means I'm sixteen. My, how fast these past years have gone by. I still remember my 10th birthday like it was only yesterday. (And now, I'm sixteen?!) It's going to be so ridiculously crazy this year, but going to be so much fun at the same time (er, hopefully). :P Hmmm...let's see what happens. :D

something like a journal entry

I've been wanting to post for several days now, but I've been too unmotivated/uninterested, and bascially, have a general lack of something interesting to say. However, today, I am determined to say something, at least, because the time I have right now, might be the only time I'll have available for a while. I don't much much to say, so how about a few life updates? :)

Well, I finished finals last Friday. Luckily, they weren't too hard! :D Though several questions in my APUSH final (aaahh!!!) bugged me, I'm positive I did well in all of them. And because of our finals, we got to have a 3-day weekend of just relaxation and no homework for once. :)

Which brings me to what I did over the break. I read (!), practiced Tennis a bit, and FINALLY watched UP (I think I've been wanting to watch it since last spring). Speaking of reading, I read Calamity Jack (Jack is awesome!), Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Paparazzi Princess, and the newest release in the series, Broadway Lights. I enjoyed the books a lot, but Austin seems to be getting more and more annoying as the series progresses. He's just so passive, and too sweet. If you read it, what do you think?

During the last term, and for my APUSH test prep, I'm planning to read some historical fiction/biographies/interesting non-fiction books that my teacher recommended for us. Here's my list:

1. Gone With the Wind
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin
4. A People's History of the United States
5. To Kill a Mockingbird
6. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
7. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
8. There Eyes Were Watching God


Anyway, I watched UP! :D And can I just say it's one of the sweetest movies I've ever seen?! All Pixar movies are sooo lovable, and this one is no exception. If you haven't watched it yet, you have to watch it. No, seriously, it's that good. (And Russell is so adorable!) :D If you get a little emotional like me, prepare to cry in the first 5 minutes...and the last five minutes.

I'm going to change the layout soon. I know, I know. If you've been reading this for several months, you'll know how many times I've changed the layout. I think this one is my 7th or 8th layout. It seems that I'm just a little picky when it comes to design and stuff. :P

Oh, and, twelve more weeks until school's out! I cannot believe my sophomore year is ending already. This year seems have gone by in a blink of an eye. Which, by the way, is really frightning me. Thinking of junior year with SAT's, ACT's, college admissions, is really, umm....pressure-y (sorry, I don't know what else to say!). It seems that whatever I do is not enough, and it gets so frustrating. I'm trying to live one day at a time, but that's just waay too hard for me. Not one day goes by now, without me thinking about what's going to happen, and...yeesh, it does get annoying. *sigh*

Oh, and I'm hoping to start something like a film/media club thing at my school soon. I'm getting excited about it, and right now I'm working on getting some cameras to use from the media peeps at my school, and we have to think of a name for the club, of course! It's definitely not going to be film/media club, but something more exciting, more professional, and more...glamorous. :P Now, I just need 8 or more people to come on the first day to officially make it a school organization *coughcough--points at two certain people who should be reading this*


On this exciting note, I shall end this post. :D Maybe, just maybe, I'll get write some reviews later this week, or next week. Maybe. Well, if I don't die in Tennis practice, that is. :P

Here's to hoping for an incredible new term, and that everyone finishes off the school year well! :)

things that are making me smile

Sunshine pouring through my window. It's making me want to jump up and sing "There's Something About the Sunshine" from the *coughcough* Disney movie Starstruck. *coughcough* FYI, I only watched that movie because I was curious about how they were going to go about with the story, of course. :D

The snow, melting. It means that spring is right around the corner! Just seventeen more days...

Anti-communism propaganda movies from the 1940's in APUSH. :D A little exaggerated maybe, but hilarious, and definitely very interesting.

My orthodontists said I'm going to get my braces off in 6 weeks! *sob* I never thought this day would come.

My friends telling me what's it like to get the braces off. I guess I can expect a lot of drool, dust when they take the braces off.

Seeing and talking to some of my old 9th grade classmates after school, yesterday. It's been such a long time since I've seen them...

The Goose Girl audiobook. I love listening to this, especially when I'm making flashcards for French or other classes.

Nathan Hale following me on twitter!

Rachel's recipes! I've learned that cupcakes = Fairy Cakes in the UK. That's so sweet! One day during the summer, I'm going to make them all.

Getting back on track in school. It always takes me a couple of days after vacation to start doing things regularly, and I'm not the procrastinator anymore. Yay, homework! (Being positive helps with the procrastination problems. :D)

Honey Nut Cheerios, my comfort food and one of my favorite snacks. I don't think I can survive without them.

The Oscars are on Sunday! Did I ever mention I have this deep love for the Academy Awards? I can't wait for this one (though I only watched like two movies on the whole list of nominees).

writing this list is certainly making me smile. ;)

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

image

Time to reflect on the year

This year, I read 49 books. Compared to the...umm...I think 10 (*cringe*) books that I read last year, it's a lot! Ahem, so, for a little challenge and fun, I decided to pick out the top ten of the year. Enjoy!

Nonie's Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2009 (in no particular order):

1. The Queen's Thief trilogy (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and the King of Attolia)
2. The Hunger Games
3. The Last Olympian
4. The Goose Girl
5. The Mysterious Benedict Society (and MBS and the Perilous Journey)
6. I'd Tell You I'd Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You
7. The Penderwicks (and also the Penderwicks on Gardam Street)
8. Forest Born
9. The Year of Secret Assignments
10. Graceling

Phew! This was my first time creating a top ten list for books, and I never knew it would be so difficult (yet fun)! Honestly, sorting everything out in the list was one of the hardest things I've done in a while. Mostly all the books I've read this were great, and I loved all of them, so it was especially hard to pick out the best ten. Since I couldn't decide between the sequels for a few of them, I just decided to put them all on the list. (After all, they are in the same series anyway.)

Here's a list of books that I loved that I couldn't bare to not mention them in this post, because they ROCK too much not to tell about: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover, Catching Fire, Secrets of My Hollywood Life (1-3), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Into the Wild and Out of the Wild, Rapunzel's Revenge, The House of Dance, Miss Spitfire, The Importance of Being Earnest, Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Dragon Slippers

Well, now that you saw the book lists, I'd like to present to you, another list...one not as arduous to make as the first one, but was still difficult-

Nonie's Top Favorites Movies watched for the first time this year (in this order):

1. Avatar ( it really is brilliant)
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Daniel Radcliffe, Tom Felton, and Michael Gambon are amazing in this)
3. Princess Diaries
4. Pride and Prejudice (BBC w/ Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle)
5. Indiana Jones (1-4)
6. Pride and Prejudice ( 2005 w/ Kiera Knightly)
7. Pirates of the Caribbean (1-3)
8. Where the Wild Things Are
9. Sky High (cheesy but at the same time, quite funny :P)
10. The Mummy (hehe...)

So there you have it. My top ten reads of the year and the top ten movies of the year. 2009 was a great year for the me, books & media-wise. I got introduced to a ton of amazing new authors and new movies, and my family had a little bonding time during the summer with most of these movies, so they're special to me. :-D

Well, time for me to conclude this post, sooo...hope everyone had a fantastic 2009, and that you'll have an even better 2010! Happy New Year's!

What's this? A new book cover?

While I was looking around Amazon for a few things, I came across this:

While the picture on the cover makes for an epic billboard, it, sadly, doesn't look that great as a book cover (even if it does have Logan Lerman on it :P). The image was meant for bigger things than a paperback book, and it's a tad bit too movie-posterish, too hollywoodized for this. It feels as if the effect that the picture is supposed to have on you is getting suppressed. (Err...do I make any sense?) It does have many similarities to the original cover though: the back of Percy's head, who's in a body of water, facing an overcast New York City. Doesn't the title font look the same too?

Whimsical Thoughts #3

- A few weeks ago I saw that little interesting Caterpillar, which I named George, crawling on a sidewalk on my school's campus. Since it was black with this big red stripe going through the middle (I'm sorry for the bad quality of this picture), I had to take a picture of it. It was quite an exotic Caterpillar. :P

- Thanksgiving is coming up in two weeks! The good new about that: A few of my family members are coming to visit from India. That'll be fun. :-D The bad news about that: Our first term ends the day we go back to school from Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately, that means our finals will be the week after Thanksgiving, which means I'll have to find time to study for all my classes while my relatives are here wanting a tour of the place I call home. Talk about bad timing.

- Everyone seems to talking about the end of the world lately; even in my church. We had a service on that last week, and 2012 the movie comes out today. I don't believe the world's going to end in 2012, but if it does, I'll be very annoyed. 2012 is my graduation year, and all that effort we're putting into school is going to be for nothing. But like I said before, I highly doubt the world's going to end, so that's that.

- My brother and I took my mom out to see Where the Wild Things Are for her birthday two weeks ago. I absolutely loved it. It was a fresh, very raw film and Max's characterization was great and lovable. The Wild Things themselves were great characters, but at the end, they got a teeny bit scary. Maybe it's just the big sister in me, but I kept wanting to jump in there and protect Max whenever they had their wild temper tantrums. The only negative thing I would have to say about this movie is that it felt a little slow a couple of times. But that's it though. It's a beautiful film, and I highly recommend watching it.

One last thing- I have a twitter now! I've actually had to start one for journalism last year, but I've never started using it until a few days ago. I put the link for my twitter on my sidebar. I think I'll be able to update that more than this blog, and have a little fun putting random things on there.

I'm sorry for the lack of any interesting things, but I do have a couple of reviews coming up this weekend. :)

Whimsical Thoughts #2

- I love 12 Angry Men. We're reading the play in English right now, and it's soo much fun! Each of us get assigned a part (if we want to read), and we just act it out. (I'm the Foreman, the person who trys to keep things under control when the jurors start yelling at each other.) I watched the old black-and-white movie, back in 7th grade in this class called Mock Trials, where we learned about law, and pretended like we were lawyers (I ended up really liking that elective). Anway, 12 Angry Men is intense. The debates between the jurors are riveting and you really have to pay attention to get what's happening. It's amazing. After I watched the movie, and finished Mock Trials, I badly wanted to become a lawyer when I grew up.

- The prospect of college is becoming real to me and everyone else I know. So are the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and the MME. Some people I know are freaking out about all of the tests (including me), and are frantically signing up for prep classes. I'm taking the PSAT tomorrow.

- I need to get better with not saying "ummm..." or "uhh..." or "like..." whenever I have a presentation to do in class. In Business, we had to interview a local entrepreneur, make a powerpoint about them, and present it to the class. I would've gotten a perfect score, but I got one point off because of my bad habit of saying "umm". I hate it when I make silly mistakes.

- Question: In Pride and Prejudice, don't Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy both have prejudices? I've been having these debates with one of my friends, this past week, about whether or not they both have prejudices. I say they both have them, but my friends says that only Mr. Darcy has prejudices. (FYI, we both never read the book. We did watch the movies though. :P) So, don't they both have prejudices? Elizabeth against Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy against the lower class...right?

- Yesterday on the bus home, my friends and I came to the conclusion that Taylor Swift's Love Story is a combination of Romeo and Juliet, the Scarlett Letter, and Pride and Prejudice. The beginning is R&J ("We were both young when I first saw you..."), the middle is the Scarlett Letter (we think), and starting from the part when she says "When I met you on the outskirts of town," it's P&P. (Ok, so it's not very important, but we were bored!) Our debate about P&P evolved from this discussion.

- I love Prada and Prejudice. I don't want to return it to the library...

- Goodreads is awesome! I can't believe I've never heard of that site until I started this blog! It's so book-oriented, has quotes from almost every book and influential person you can think of, and you can be friends with authors!! I have Sarah Miller, the author of Miss Spitfire, as a friend! Wow.

- I'm very happy and relieved about this. I'm so glad he was found (I was very scared for him yesterday), though it's a little weird how his brother never mentioned that he saw Falcon Heene go in the box right away. Lesson to learn from this: Don't run away and hide in a box when your parents yell at you. You never know when there's a search party looking for you (not to mention people watching TV will get worried).

Whimsical Thoughts

- So I was watching the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs trailer on TV, and there's this part when the girl's like "What could possibly top this?!" and then Flint, the scientist, goes "With hot fudge. Hahahaha!" I like that part. :) I hope to see that movie soon.

-The weather's turning colder and colder everday. Time to bring out the jackets! :( Hopefully, it won't be as cold this year. You know, the weather has been so bizarre this year. It rained like every other day during the summer, and now it's freezing in the morning. September mornings are always a little chilly here, but not so cold that you can't wear flip-flops! Uh-oh...global warming....

-I love this picture:

My friend took it on the bus from my cell phone accidentally. I like the feel of the picture, if you get what I mean.

- I forgot to add this to my Places I want to visit someday list, but I also would like to go to Prince Edward Island, and see "Avonlea" (LM Montegomery's pseudonym for her town, Cavendish), Green Gables, the Lake of Shining Waters, and other places in the fictional town. Author Mitali Perkins, blogged about her trip to PEI here.

- We're watching Jurassic Park again, with a couple of my brother's friends. (Soo many memories with the JP movies...) :-D I faintly remember seeing Jurassic Park 2 in theaters when I was three, I think. The part I remember most is when they're running through the field and Velociraptors are jumping on them. I remember telling my mom after the movie that during that scene, the humans were turning into Velociraptors or something (I didn't understand what was happening at that time :P).

- It's very quiet in my neighborhood these days. Too quiet. No more kids bicycling outside, or their parents waving at me when I go out to get the mail. I miss everyone being outside.

Places I would like to visit someday

1) The first country name that would pop out of my mouth would be Greece! There's just so much fascinating history and mythology involved. I would love to visit the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and the National Archaeological Museum. Just walking all around Athens and snapping pictures would be amazing. There's just so much I would love to do there.

2) Italy! Again, it's a country full of historical monuments, old tales, and scenic cities. It would be fun to ride through the "streets" of Venice, or travel to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet takes place, or go to one of the colosseums, and imagine what it would've been like to see gladiators chasing each other down. :-D Oh, and did I mention the food yet? Italian food is the best! I love Paninis.

3) Australia- The weather's opposite of the northern hemisphere weather. Going there during winter will be awesome. There'll be no need to worry about heavy jackets, and boots! I can perfect my Australian accent (which is pretty bad) and I can see Kangaroos. Plus, I'll be on an island! *grin*

4) It's not in a different country, but someday I would like to go to Los Angeles. It's always been a dream of mine to visit all the Hollywood studios, and maybe spot some celebrities. There's also the Walk of Fame, and Beverely Hills. :)

5) London- It's the home of Shakespeare, JK Rowling, a billion Kings and Queens who lived in the Buckingham Palace. They also have awesome triple decker buses, and people who have really classy accents. :-D

6) Paris- After I finish my four years of French in high school, I want to go to Paris to test my French a little bit, visit the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, eat delicious French food, and see all the architecture that my middle school teacher (who's French) is proud of.

Now, enough about where I want to go. Where would you like to go?

Rambling...

I am at my dad's office now, dying of boredom. I brought my health textbook and papers and stuff to study, and now I'm taking a break because I'm tired of reading about eating healthy. Unfortunately, I never brought anything else to do. I left my iPod at home and I forgot North of Beautiful (I never actually got a chance to read it yet). Rishi's playing on his Nintendo DS, which he often does. He brought James and the Giant Peach to read, but I highly doubt it'll ever get opened. I took some paperclips and started making a paperclip chain, but it got bent in some weird way, so I ditched it. Since I have nothing else to do, I'll tell a funny story:

On Saturday evening, I went at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen to help out. Before we started serving, we went into the kitchen to get the drinks. I noticed on the island in the center of the kitchen, a container with some yellowish-white contents in it. It looked a lot like vanilla ice-cream. I asked my friend Grace if it was. Grace's friend, Ian, who happened to overhear my question, was like "no, it's BUTTER, not ice-cream." He laughed and said "That's not something you would want to mistake it for." Embarrassed that I mistook butter for vanilla ice-cream, I hung my head in shame and didn't say anything else. The End. 

Ok, so maybe that story wasn't that funny, but I know that's one incident I'll never forget in a long time. How I mistook butter for ice-cream, I'll never get. (But you know, it really did look like ice-cream.) I think I'll go back to studying Health now.