my dear watson (original) (raw)

26 February 2020 @ 11:59 pm

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hello dears, this journal is friends-only from May 2012 onwards.
do comment if you'd like to be added, I don't bite. ♥

"Another paradox is how patriarchy sets men up to depend on women in ways that make men feel vulnerable and, therefore, powerless in relation to them. In one sense, this is a common feature of systems of privilege that depend on subordinate groups to go along, to ratify privilege as legitimate, and to refrain from challenging the status quo."
-- Allan G. Johnson

mood: hopeful

music: City Hunter OST - Glory of the City

Yes, Steven Moffatt, Mark Gatiss and team. You guys are planning to "have people just as frustrated as they ever were" for Sherlock S3's climax?! On par with S2's?!

As Moriarty told Sherlock in Sherlock S1E3:
"You can't be allowed to continue. You just ...can't."

On the other hand, it means we will have a S4 for Sherlock. *GLEE*

Oh please, just make S3 already and let us see the marvelous resolution to S2's cliffhanger. ESPECIALLY SINCE PART OF IT HAS ALREADY BEEN FILMED.

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“Benedict is this sort of beautiful, exotic creature. He’s never going to play an ordinary man, ‘cause he couldn’t. That’s not what he’s like, but he will tell the stories of great men.

“Whereas I think Martin Freeman does the exact opposite: he makes ordinary people fascinating. He finds the poetry in just being ordinary, and that’s an extraordinary, exquisite gift. He can tell the story of our lives and make it fascinating.”

-- RadioTimes, "Steven Moffat promises a puzzling climax to Sherlock's third series"

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Okay, a more coherent post next time.

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[edit]

anyone wants to try giving me a (one-word) writing prompt? trying to get back into the writing mood; actually I did write for a prompt earlier this week but it was too long to be submitted heheh, although the writing was fun (a tad morbid though).

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

mood: excited

posting from my phone because I'm too lazy to drag Drew out again (and partly because I stared at the screen for practically seven hours straight watching Bloody Monday - shall reserve my comments for when I finish it; I'm left with two episodes, which means it's not a very good idea to continue watching now).

yesterday was a Family Day; accompanied my mum to the hospital for a check-up, then we had lunch and we were going to head home, but my mum wanted to take photographs at Yishun Safra (where daddy had parked the car) and I discovered three massage chairs and refused to budge for a long, long while. Later I went grocery shopping with daddy! (or rather, I dragged him with me because I wanted to try my hand at making salad again) before diving into the Second Salad-making attempt (unlike Wed, I added eggs and capsicums, and my chopping skillz are non existent I realize). Photos might be up later; too lazy to switch back to the lappy now.

on the way home from church today (with J and G in the backseat), my dad and I argued amicably discussed in an academic fashion on lifestyle and change. I realize that I am rather an idealist. I thought I was more cynical than this. the guys apparently had fun listening to our banter, though!

and my books have arrived! I just lent out The Hunger Games, with Catching Fire to follow possibly later. Lynn Flewelling's Luck in the Shadow stays with me (though if you want to borrow it, I'm perfectly willing to oblige). and of course, I'm waiting for Casket of Souls and I really hope it's good because to be honest The White Road was somewhat a letdown for me!

oh and I started on my virgin game of Diablo 2 on Tues; I'm still not convinced that I should get Diablo 3 but I did have fun playing the game that day though!

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

“Because I have seen this tower before and I have seen it in the woman we all expected, the only woman some men ever know… And every time we come expecting her, the woman who lures us with what’s most precious to us and kills us with it, we build the tower around her again and again and again…”

She gazed at him. A tear slid down her cheek, and then another. “I thought it was my tower,” she whispered. “The Amaranth that never dies but only lives for ever to watch men die.”

“It’s all of us,” he sighed. In the distance, thunder rumbled. “We all build towers, then dare each other to enter…”

-- Patricia McKillip, 'Lady of the Skulls' in Harrowing the Dragon

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Since Mordion looked as if, for once, he was trying to think about this, she went on persuasively, “Why is it so important to you to make Hume real anyway?”

“Because, as you’re always telling me, I’m fond of him,” Mordion said sombrely. “Because I set out to use Hume like a puppet and saw almost straightaway that this was wrong. I want him to be free.”

“Yes, you’ve said that before,” Ann agreed, “and it’s all true. But why is it really? Why do you always think of Hume and never of yourself?”

Mordion slowly picked up his staff, joined his hands round it, and leant his forehead against his hands. He made a sound that was like a groan. He did not answer Ann for so long that she gave up expecting him to. She knelt and listened to the sounds from the river. Things seemed to have stopped falling and grinding away. It was just rushing water now. She was about to get up and look, when Mordion said, “Because I want to be free too.” He added, in nearly a whisper, “Ann, I don’t want to think about this.”

-- Diana Wynne Jones, Hexwood

I've been flipping through Hexwood a little, today. I cannot pretend that I fully understand the book - it is too mind-boggling even after so many years, but at times hilarious and at other times sombre, this is such a beautiful book that I read it over and over again. I've loved this book for years (though it was a slowly growing love) and I don't think there is any other DWJ novel quite like this one.

Today I was thinking to myself that if not for Howl and Sophie, Hexwood might house my favourite couple in a DWJ novel ever. I can't decide between them - and I most certainly won't!

mood: mellow

“She wondered if she had ever truly not known that Tor loved her, if it were only that she had always feared to love him in return. She was afraid no longer, and the irony of it was that Luthe had taught her not to be afraid, and that it was her love for Luthe that made her recognize her love for Tor.”

- Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown

mood: full

music: acidman - repeat

“Dystopias should be insurgent. They should force readers to question who they are, what their society is like, and what they take for granted. A good dystopia will illuminate the horrors right before our eyes, and one can hope that if it does its job well, it will create empathy and humanity in world that is sorely lacking.”
— Paolo Bacigalupi, The Invisible Dystopia

music: Shimatani Hitomi - Falco

So I did just catch "The Avengers" (that has been superbly hyped up, oh, the past month) and actually I wasn't expecting that much of it, to be honest. For once, I wasn't surprised. I love superhero/vigilante flicks alot (it's a huge part of the reason why I loved 'City Hunter' - drama, not manga - and of course, I loved Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy - I can't wait for the "The Dark Knight Rises"! among other flicks) but I have to admit that "The Avengers" didn't quite cut it for me. Maybe it's because I haven't watched 3/4 of the individual feature films (ie. I've only watched "Iron Man") - although I made sure that I knew what happened in the other three films (ie. Wikipedia is my best friend) before watching the movie.

What can I say? It's a fun movie, sure, but with four superheroes all clamouring for attention, alot of the character development gets cut waaaaay out. Or maybe that wasn't the point of the film (which is reasonable when you think about it actually). Surprisingly, I really liked Dr. Banner/the Hulk in this film - I've never been much interested in the Hulk so it came as a surprise, but really, he was the best played (and most interesting) out of the Avengers for me. Then there's Captain America who was, frankly, quite endearing. Tony Stark was, well, all Tony Stark-ish (ie. insert formulaic witty banter) but I am sorry to all the fangirls/fanboys because I found Thor extremely, extremely boring. And his first appearance in the movie was horrendously ridiculous! (B. was like asking me why the heck I was laughing... I didn't quite know how to answer because, well it's just me I think.) Which is quite sad, because the villain is like Loki (whom I actually found rather boring too, to be honest) - or maybe that's the reason why. Or maybe it's just because the whole movie felt like a I'M-GONNA-TRASH-THIS-PLACE or a HELLO-I-DON'T-WANNA-WORK-WITH-YOU/DO-THIS fest, that I didn't find myself particularly impressed. Especially when you consider all the positive reviews about the film! Or maybe it's just that I've been spoilt on good films recently (ah, "The Hunger Games" wasn't THAT good though, so...) Or maybe it's just because I'm not a fangirl of the comics/the Avengers, so I didn't quite get it, but oh well.

I'm still tempted to catch up on all the other films though (maybe not "Thor"... please don't kill me ha).

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Sis and I bought $10 worth of kimchi today! The box of kimchi is now sitting in the fridge and I'm so excited about (slowly) pigging out. Kimchi is the only Korean cuisine that I really adore - other than kimchi ramyun, which still has kimchi in it, so yeah.

Today I also visited my maternal grandparents for the first time in a long while. :-)

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Also went on a quiet visit to the two favourite haunts on Friday by meself - Cat Socrates and Kinokuniya! I got my hands on Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief - finally! It was never a must-get for me in the Queen's Thief series, but I admit I like having, well, most of the series at home. :-) And I've loved Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown since I was a kid, so to have it at home to pour through everytime I find myself missing the novel is really just plain ...awesome. No other words for it. Sis asked me to complete the set and get The Blue Sword as well, I might. Please, friends, if you like/want to venture into YA fantasy, these two books are really, really good!

I nearly bought Patricia McKillip's The Bards of Bone Plain after reading the reviews of the book, but it was expensive. I still love McKillip, but I'm still wary of buying any more books I haven't read before.. even if it's McKillip, yes. (I really want to get my hands on some of her older books though... like Song for the Basilisk but you can't find that anywhere except the NUS library. WHY have the publisher(s) stopped printing so many of them!)

Waiting for my three books from the book depository to arrive in the mail though! Since Casket of Souls is pre-ordered I don't think I'll see it in the mail for some time yet, but the other three books I bought... definitely. (Who wants to borrow The Hunger Games once it reaches my house! I didn't get Mockingjay though; I didn't really like it. I would only buy it... for the final scenes, minus epilogue).

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OH and if I were to leave this as a summing-up-the-week post, I should post about the cousins' gathering I had at my aunt's house - but that's another story for another day. I should also mention that I started a replay of FF7! which made me so happy even through my miserable headache that day! Cloud dressed up as a girl always perks me up! And the battle themes. *shivers* Oh, the good ol' (holi)days.

mood: calm

music: Crystal Kay - konna ni chikaku de

I realize that there is one thing I didn't write in the last entry.

One of my not-so-secret desires in life is to write something beautiful and powerful enough to touch someone's heart somehow.

The me now, of course, probably can't do that.

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Fingers felt stiff and swollen yesterday; today it got much better (thank God) but they still feel a little wonky sometimes. I almost wonder if I'm getting premature rheumatism, heheh. I hope it isn't anything too serious!

mood: restless

music: Do as Infinity - Yesterday & Today