Of unexpected hats and the ending of things...

One of my good friends made a hat for me. Seriously. She knitted this amazing slouch hat for me and attached some seriously awesome badges.

And, because I'm feeling a little daring today I will add another photo...of me...eek.

It's me...please don't be scared. (I straightened my hair because it turned into a poodle shaped mess due to the rain...)

Anyway, I like my hat. You hear that, friend, I love my hat! Oh, please ignore the Australian shaped clock in the background. I am definitely a kiwi, I promise. Also, you can just see a small selection of my DVDs hiding in the background there. As previously mentioned, they are all alphabetised because I am actually that insane.

In other news, the final Harry Potter film starts in NZ tomorrow and I'm going to see it with my mum. She was the one who got me into HP to begin with so it seems fitting that we see the final film together. I mean, I even called her from London the minute I had my copy of Deathly Hallows and we compared notes and our views on the ending of that book. I'm still of two minds of it but that's neither here nor there.

I'm a bit worried about how I will feel once the final film has been watched and then purchased on DVD. I can't truly say that I've grown up with Harry Potter since I started it mid way through high school but I can say that it has truly changed me - hopefully for the better. It's made me more proud to be who I am.

Anyway, I'm sure many of you are sick of hearing about it so I won't go on. I will let you know my thoughts on Friday after I've seen the last film - I promise there will be no spoilers.

Until Friday, folks. I'm going to chill for the afternoon admiring my hat and the fact that my head is now cosy and warm.

Peace and pancakes.

Top Five Fantasy Themed Films from my Childhood.

So, I heard the funniest thing...well I found it funny. I overheard someone referring to Easter Sunday as Happy Zombie Jesus Day and I had a quiet chuckle to myself because; A) It was funny and B) it was kinda true if you happen to believe in that. So, I was wondering, that makes Jesus the original Zombie? I can see the books now. And a feature film.

EDIT: I just did a search on the almighty google and found this website. Chuckles. 

Somehow this should lead me onto my top five of the day which happens to be films from my childhood that are fantasy themed. This, unfortunately, rules out any recent films so no LotR* or Pan's Labyrinth.

The NeverEnding Story
This film was one of my favourites when I was young. I watched it so many times and I even went and saw both sequels at the movies. (Yep, both of them, and they were both terrible.)** But the first one was brilliant. I had a huge crush on Atreyu and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried (and still do) when Artex died. I've known men to cry at that scene. Heck, I have the theme tune on my iPod. Oh memories are grand.

Labyrinth
Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo, Sarah, Toby, Jareth. This is one of the most magical films of all time. I remember being terrified of the Fiery things that yank their heads off; so much so that I would hide behind the sofa in the lounge. (This was something I normally reserved for episodes of Dr Who. Those daleks still have the power to terrify me...but not so much as the weeping angels.) Obviously, this is a staple film for those of us born in the eighties but it still has a hold on many now-a-days.

The Dark Crystal
Jim Hensen was a genius - that is a pure and simple fact. This film was beautifully done and I believe that it is a work of art. The story alone is beautifully woven and then you have the puppets that are beautifully designed. Amazing. The only thing wrong is that it leaves you wanting to know more.

The Princess Bride
"Whatever you wish." Wesley and Buttercup are the ultimate fantasy couple in this great comedy drama. And we cannot forget Inigo Montoya. This film has a cult status for a reason and I remember watching it every time it came on TV and it was one of the first DVD's that I ever bought.

Willow
I remember watching this at a friends house when I was young and the trolls that turn into the moat monster were so terrifying to my young mind that I recall having strange nightmares for a week. More than I'd had with the fiery creatures from Labyrinth. Still, aside from the fact that it was filmed in NZ it is and will always be one of my favourite fantasy films.

Let me know what you think of these films. Enjoy!

*Lord of the Rings in case you were wondering.
**Random tidbit - Jack Black appears in the third film as one of the bad guys.

Top Five TV Characters I Admire

The 20 Thing I Like list went down quite well. It was a fun one to write about as well though it took longer than I expected, in part because I really had to think about things that I do like rather than just passing 'flavour of the month' things. So, in keeping up with things that I like I am going for TV characters that I admire.

Kara Thrace/Starbuck - Battlestar Galactica (re-imaging)
I never really saw the original though I can understand the outcry about changing Starbuck from a man into a woman but I think it was a fraking brilliant move. Starbuck, especially in the first two seasons, was extremely kick-ass and awesome on so many levels. It is great to see a woman who can drink, swear and fight with the best of them. She was real and, as you know, I love my flawed heroes because I find I can relate to them more easily. Katee Sackhoff made Starbuck an icon of science fiction.

Angela Montenegro - Bones
I love all the characters on Bones. To me, the show is more about the characters and what drives them than the actual crime aspect of the show. In my mind, each of the characters are uniquely interesting but no more so than Angela. From her fashion sense to her intelligence, which is in no way overshadowed by the rest of the characters, she is a great role model and someone who I admire in terms of characterisation. I love the fact that, although she is technically a squint, she also has an open mind to the world - though not in the same way as Hodgins.

Dr. Spencer Reid/Penelope Garcia - Criminal Minds
From the first episode I was intrigued by all the characters but these two, above all, were really interesting to me. (I know I'm cheating by choosing two but I couldn't decide). Both are completely different in personality and, well everything, but they are both amazing. Reid dealing with his mother and the possible threat of schizophrenia and, not to mention his astounding intelligence, is an interesting character and somewhat complex. Whereas Garcia brings the heart to the team. Her quirks and quick thinking mind make for many of the laughs of the show. Plus, she is another of those characters with great fashion sense. (In my ever so humble opinion.)

Dean Winchester - Supernatural
I am neither a Sam-girl nor a Dean-girl but I think, out of the two of them, Dean is actually the more complex. ::*::hides as fans go all crazy like::*:: But I admire him more than Sam. I guess you could say that it is, in part, to my being the older sibling and constantly worrying about my younger sibling. Yet there is also the way that he can act serious in a moment's notice but is just at ease with being the goof ball. He is fine at playing dumb and doesn't really care what others think about him.

Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy had to be on this list somewhere. She is strong, kooky, witty and just brilliant. She was a typical teenager, aside from the obvious...But, she actually grows and matures as the seasons go on. Plus, she is resourceful in a way that not many other characters are. She doesn't fit in with the norm and, as Joss Whedon has stated many times, she was his response to the horror stories of old where it was the blond girl running upstairs instead of out the front door. She is another kick-ass heroine who has her own challenges and problems.

So there we go. Just a quick list again. Leave me a comment if there are any characters that you admire.

Top Five Comedy films...and a mini mind fart...

It is day seventeen and I have been blogging like a fool. I'm glad I stuck with this idea of five things but I tell you, it's not easy. Sometimes it is a real struggle for me to think about what I should write and sometimes I wonder why I bother. Before you start freaking out and thinking I'm an attention whore or something like that I want to assure you that I'm not. What I mean by bothering is that there is so many other things that I should be doing and the main one is figuring out what I'm going to do since looking for a job hasn't been working for me so far.

Then there is my writing, which I really should be focusing on but I keep getting distracted and this is one of the distractions. Twitter is another because I just like reading about Cassandra Clare's characters etc. (I refuse to follow Charlie Sheen because, in my own opinion, he is a sick, sick man...I don't really need to elaborate.)

Then there is the usual cleaning, cooking and washing routine which, I admit, I am always behind in though I don't mind vacuuming...especially when I have my headphones in and I bop* around the house.

So basically, I feel that there are other things that I should be doing but then I remember that I actually enjoy looking up my favourites of things and sharing them with the interwebs. So, with that random little chat out of the way I'm diving into my top five comedy films.

Spaceball - Mel Brooks
This is the ultimate spoof of Star Wars, Star Trek and any science fiction film pre-1987. I love the whole thing from start to finish and who can forget that lovely Alien tribute at the end. You have to love a little alien in a top hat singing. And who can forget, "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine..."

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Or any Monty Python film ever.
I don't really feel like I need to explain this but if you have never seen any Monty Python you need to get out to your nearest video store or whatever and watch. It's British comedy at its best.

Shaun of the Dead - Edgar Wright
"You've got red on you." Zombies and Simon Pegg. Hilarious and a brilliant tribute to all of those zombie horrors of the last few decades. Plus Nick Frost is hilarious.

Austin Powers in Goldmember
All the Austin Powers films are funny as anything but I have fond memories of the third one and can relentlessly quote lines from it all the time. Mike Myers is hilarious and has a great sense of comic timing and a very witty sense of humour.

Zoolander
I'm not the biggest Ben Stiller fan but I really love this film. It is pure stupid fun with some great one liners. I love a film that can make fun of itself.

As you may have noticed I don't watch a lot of comedy and my preferences are towards British humour aside from that I hope you enjoy the list and let me know of any good comedies that you reckon I should watch.

Until tomorrow...


*Yep I wrote bop - and I do bop, though I guess if someone was to walk in it may look like I'm in the middle of being electrocuted but hey, dance like no one's watching, right? Right?

Technology hates me and my top five sci fi films...

We interrupt this broadcast with an important announcement - I finally have my computer back. This is the good news. The bad news is the fact that they had to wipe everything because the hard drive was corrupted. For those keeping score at home this is twice in the last two months that computers have deleted my life from them. Before you say anything about an external hard drive I'll have you know that I have one but it was too late in both cases.*

I can only assume that this means technology hates me. Though I have to admit, my first computer was brilliant. It was a Dell Inspiron and worked beautifully until it died. **

Anyway, let's get down to business. Today's top five is going to be my favourite Science Fiction films. I happen to love sci fi with a great passion. I'm a passable Trekkie, love Star Wars and am somewhat obsessed with Firefly. So, let's dive straight in: ***

Oh, before you ask, Star Wars won't be appearing on this list because it is more than just a science fiction. Just in case you were wondering.

Event Horizon
This film was one that really scared me the first time I watched it. There is no alien per se as everything tends to come from the mind of the crew but the whole idea of going into a hell dimension just creeps me out. Plus, Sam Neil as Weir...I still get shivers every time I watch it.

Pandorum
I finally managed to get a hand on this film a few weeks ago and, for the same reason that I enjoyed Event Horizon I enjoyed this film. The enemy isn't clear and it goes to show the power of your own mind. And the atmosphere of space being empty and unknown makes for a great story.

Serenity
Okay. This is a firm favourite mainly because I loved Firefly. It is the crew and the sense of family that actually make this film brilliant. Plus Whedon's witty script. All I have to say is I 'aim to misbehave'.

Alien
The ultimate sci fi. With a tag line like "In space, no one can hear you scream," you know you're in for a great ride. It is chilly, atmospheric and scary. Not to mention the fact that it brought our attention to the fact that women could be heroes. Ripley is the ultimate heroine and she kicks arse!

Aliens
I had to add this one as well because it is very different to the first film. This one ups the ante and introduces some great characters. Hudson anyone? Plus the fact that the colonial marines are no real match for the Aliens...

There are so many other films that I could add to this list so here are some of the runner ups:

Blade Runner, The Matrix, Back to the Future, The Fifth Element, 12 Monkeys, Terminator, T2 ... damn it, this list is far too long. I've mentioned it before but narrowing a list down to five is flipping difficult.

Hope you are enjoying this as much as I am. Also, if you have any requests please let me know.


*Insert sigh or swear word here.
**Add a wry chuckle here.
*** I could have made a science fiction related joke here but I held back. Are you proud?

In which I am odd

As a child I was always considered odd. This was the kind of odd that most parents smile and nod about but behind your back say such things as:

"Boy, your kid has quite the imagination there." Random visitor
"She sure does. The other day she came tearing through the house screaming about evil knights who were after the kingdom before diving out that open window there and rolling down the hill." Proud (hopefully) mum. *

"Does your daughter know that it isn't appropriate to hold seances in the school library?" Concerned parent.
"She's an imaginative girl, we don't want to stifle her creativity." Confused but proud father. **

"Why did your daughter go to a cemetery on her birthday?" Confused parent.
"She likes to pay respects to the living by remembering the dead." Possible equally confused mum. *** Oh, and I have to apologise to the poor girl that I may have possibly scared by sneaking up behind them in said cemetery. She was a friend - well until I realised that she was standing on an unmarked grave. I honestly didn't mean to scare her that much.

To many my parents were often considered too lenient on my...uh...different behaviours. To say I wasn't like the others in my peer group growing up could be an understatement. But I don't think I ever saw the world in quite the way that others did. Cemeteries were never scary places whereas clowns were, and are, the minions of the devil. Yes I am scared of clowns. The feeling is mutual I like to think. Or maybe it's just because I lash out at clowns who enter my personal space bubble.

All through primary school I was do my own thing but often drag a lot of the others into my hi jinks. I guess it was a good thing that the school I attended was a small rural school. Can you imagine the kind of trouble I've gotten into if I was living in a city. I mean, convincing others that the library was haunted. Telling ghost stories to scare the younger kids. Alternatively, I was earning science badges left, right and centre and writing up projects on Marie Curie and Dr Jack Horner while causing a fuss to the Bibles in Schools programme that was forced on us. It wasn't my fault that I was upset when the teacher, who shall remain nameless because I've forgotten the name, told the entire class of 5 year olds that Santa wasn't real and that they should give their presents to the church. Or when another one tried to tell us that dinosaurs and man walked around at the same time. I think it was around that time (when I was about 10 or 11) that my parents removed me from that particular lesson.

Anyway, my antics carried on to high school where people would often ask me why I was so weird and I honestly didn't have an answer. I didn't really think I was weird I just worried that everyone else was far too normal plus I hated high school - or the deepest level of hell as I affectionately recall it being. The teasing was manageable, the bullying less so but the lack of interesting topics made me feel absolutely and totally bored. I mean, how many ways can you read Romeo and Juliet without wanting to scream about the stupidity of both the story and the teachers interpretation of it. Seriously, it is not a romantic story. We must remember that Romeo was only 16 and Juliet was barely into her teens. They died because they weren't honest. And let's face it, Romeo was a total playa (yeah I used the word playa. Whatcha gonna do?). I mean, one minute it was all about Rosalind and the next thing he's all "Juliet, sun, moon, stars, dead." That's not healthy. (Especially the dead part.)

Even now many people think my habits are odd or my ideas are somewhat strange. Fortunately, though, many of the people who know me well understand that it's my quirks that make me who I am. You know, the geeky obsessions, the love of quotes, dinosaurs, BSG, odd socks, fantasy, horror, adventure and the list goes on.

Oh well - at least this is a somewhat better blog compared to the last two. "May the force be with you."

Peace and pancakes


*Well, in my imagination there were fifty black knights who were trying to overthrow the kingdom and I couldn't let that happen could I?
**I was utterly convinced that my primary school library was haunted when I was younger. I decided to prove this theory by any means necessary. Needless to say, some of the other parents were not as understanding as my own.
*** I find cemeteries interesting. All these headstones as a reminder of those who once walked around with the living.

Things that make life great...

I'm the first to admit that I can get stressed pretty easily. I don't know if I am wired that way or what but I often find myself running around like a headless chook (chicken for those who don't know) and snapping at people when it gets really bad. Then the sarcasm monster that resides within me will jump out and take control of my mouth with normally negative results. Then my writing is affected, which means that my characters will echo my mood - all in all it is not a pretty sight.

However, this morning as I sat drinking my coffee (which I'm not supposed to have but I must have it...it is my lifeblood...) my niece came in and we started looking at music on youtube. The niece is five so her musical tastes can be, ah, somewhat fixed in the realm of Disney* or Miley-Hannah-Cyrus-Montana but this morning I played Popular from Wicked and she loved it.

So, there I was, coffee in one hand, laptop slowly burning away in my lap and said niece curled up next to me, telling me to be quiet as she listened. (I happen to love Popular and have a tendency to sing along.)
And I felt happy. Not that I am depressed but I do get occasional bouts of loneliness living out here in the middle of nowhere. This got me to thinking about things that make life great and I thought I would share some ideas with you and see if you have any that I may have missed.

One - the first sip of coffee on a relaxing morning (especially good if this is a Sunday morning and you don't have anywhere to be.)

Two - Colouring in with my niece - even though she says that I am no longer allowed to colour in. At least she didn't tell me I was too old to colour in like she did with Grams.

Three - Walking along the beach and feeling your feet sink into the sand - which leads to one running into the water and squealing with delight at the sudden shock of cold.

Four - Dancing around the lounge to a great tune and not caring that you don't look like those professional types on TV.

Five - that hour just after midnight when you realise that you should be in bed but you don't care and you want to stay up as late and you want.

Six - Listening to your favourite song at top volume while doing the vacuuming.**

Seven - Eating an ice block on a hot afternoon and not caring that it is dripping down your hands. (Same for ice cream but I don't eat too much of that!)

Eight - TV show marathons...Battlestar Galactica, Bones, X Files etc. There is something about sitting down, not caring about anything but the next episode. And, when they are on DVD you don't have to care about the ads!

Nine - The smell and feel of a new book or reading the next book in a series. There is something about books that just makes me happy. Going into a bookstore really makes my day! Even if I don't buy anything!

Ten - Going into a pet store and seeing all the animals - though this can be sad since you can't take away any of the animals...

Anyway, there is a quick list of ten and I hope that you enjoy some of them as much as I do. Also, if you have any ideas feel free to let me know. I always like finding new things to do and enjoy!

Before I go, though, I will leave you with a video that hopefully makes you smile or at least jump up and down in geeker joy!

*Not that there is anything wrong with that - I mean, who doesn't love a Disney sing-along...don't even try to deny that you don't know the lyrics to at least one Disney song!
**This is also good for losing those extra kgs...