I joined in on the fun and signed up for a Formspring account and will probably check it regularly until the novelty wears off. Until then, ask me anything!

A new season of America's Next Top Model has begun, full of high-pitched screaming girls, cat fights, crazy clothes, crazier hair, and of course some makeover tears. Bring it on! For reasons I can't fully explain I just love ANTM. It's my guilty pleasure show, best when combined with tasty chocolate cake. Apart from just loving to see the finished photos, I'm ashamed to say that I think one of the draws is being witness to the insane all-girl drama that erupts in the Top Model house each season from the safety of my living room. You'd have to pay me a helluva lot of money to lock myself in a penthouse with twelve spastic young women under the eyes of nation-wide television cameras for three months.

Three books checked off my to-read list over the last month: Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson and Born Free by Joy Adamson, both about human-animal bonds with wild lions in particular. The stories and the people in them and how they're able to form relationships with big game predators like this are fascinating to me~ I also finished The Pact by Jodi Picoult, about two families torn apart by the apparent suicide pact of their two children. It was more or less the classic Picoult child angst/parental grievances/courtroom drama plot that I've come to know (and love) her for, which I still end up enjoying no matter how many time she does it. My only complaint with this one is that the ending and outcome of the trial itself was, in my opinion, completely unrealistic. }:P Her newest novel, House Rules, about a boy with Asperger's syndrome accused of murder sounds like another typical Picoult book, but like always I'm eager to read it anyway.

I went out the other day and made (what is for me) a rare venture to purchase some new cosmetics. I bought some new sheer foundation, some mascara, a couple new swatches of eyeshadow (which according to my Google researching should be ginger-flattering), and two new facial moisturizers (the sales associate that helped me was scandalized that I used Vaseline lotion on my face as it is apparently a big no-no and does more harm than good.) This is why I hate shopping for cosmetics -- I have no earthly idea what I'm doing or what I'm looking for, which leads to me inevitably having to ask a makeup associate for help, which in turn almost always ends up making me feel exceptionally stupid and embarrassed. I walk through the beauty section aisles paranoid that every other woman is staring and judging me on my complete lack of innate female prowess with makeup.

On a related note, holy jeeze I had no idea there were so many shades of black mascara. Classic black, very black, emerald black, black brown, soft black, and what I'm sure is the king of all black -- blackest black. o_O How different can one black mascara look from another? I'm glad I opted for the much harder to find (yet with a much less intimating range of selection) brown mascara. Among all of the leagues of various blacks, there is just... brown. Straight, safe, simple brown. Much less work in my opinion.

This is by far the best (and addicting) video I've seen this week. Suggestively lewd geek humor is the best. I still can't get this song out of my head.

I've finally started The Time Traveler's Wife and while I'm only 100ish pages in so far it's lived up to the praise. I'm really enjoying it. It's been a while since I've read a book that's made me look so forward to the bus ride home so that I can continue reading.

This week I also went and saw District 9 which was also great. The plot wasn't anything like I thought it would be -- much more of a documentary than anything like the suspenseful, thriller sci-fi flicks I'm used to (though with the at times almost dizzying camera shaking from Cloverfield.) I liked the aliens; poor Christopher Johnson's drive and motivation to return home and save his people and his love for his son (adorable!) managed to make him seem so human. It was a very different and fresh kind of alien movie. I both hope and dread for a future sequel.

Someone should come with me to see both The Time Traveler's Wife movie (though I'll probably kick myself for going to see it after I've already immersed myself in the novel), as well as Julie & Julia, because Meryl Streep is just piles of win in anything she has a lead role in. Hilarity and awesomeness can only follow.

We finally sold our old tv! Or at least I hope we actually do. The woman who's buying it is driving in all the way over from Lloydminister so she must want it pretty bad. *Looks at clock* She needs to speed it up though or I'm selling it to the guy next in line. Once that giant monstrosity is finally out of our house we can finally buy living room furniture! *Joy* I'm also in need of some nice fake plants for around the house to bring some much-needed green inside, but not inevitably kill. Anyone know where I can find some nice ones at really cheap prices?

Oh god the poor flowers my Mom gave me out in the front of the house are dead already. Oh god oh god oh god. There must be a special little corner of hell reserved for awful people like me who kill flowers, surrounded forever by hellfire and brimstone and piles of dead pansies and tulips. D: *Crafts pots filled with little paper flowers in hopes that her mother won't notice.*

I really need to stop reading the books before I see the movie adaptations. Coleen and I went and saw My Sister's Keeper last night and I'm undecided whether I walked out so disappointed simply because the film wasn't that great, or because it was so completely butchered from the original novel version.

I understand that book-to-movie adaptations always involve some inevitable but necessary plot trimming, but I can't stand when for no apparent reason they cut out all these wonderful scenes from the book and then end up writing all-new scenes to fill up all that extra space that don't even end up doing the original's justice at all. Why don't they just keep the original bits? There were scenes in the novel that displayed the emotional battle this family is going through so simply and vividly -- whereas the new movie inserts were fairly bland and too drawn out.

I'm also a little irked that they completely changed some of the key character's personalities. They made Anna loud, annoying, and obnoxious. In addition to giving Jesse's self-destructive personality a complete 180 degree rewrite, they also cut out his entire storyline. And poor Campbell Alexander's character should never have been given to the likes of Alec Baldwin who is both much too old and not at all good looking or charming enough to pull off the role. Though I can't say they even gave him much a role in the film -- Campbell's entire subplot with Julie (who wasn't even in the movie) was trashed, and his health condition was barely even touched upon.

And did I mention that they completely changed and reversed the ending? D: That is most ridiculous rewrite of a story wrap up that I've ever seen. There was no heart wrenching impact or twist to the movie's finale! It was anti-climactic and completely negates Anna's entire purpose in the story that contributes so much to the title My Sister's Keeper. What a sham. *Grumble mumble grumble*

On a different but still petty fangirlsh rant, I'm about so sick of all of the recent Dark Knight LedJoker fanart that I could spew. I don't think I can stand to see another dozen duplications of the "Why So Serious" poster, the infamous playing card or head quirked shots, or Ledger sitting on the damn jail cell bench. (Don't even get me started on the amount of cosplay photos you have to swim through now. Ugh.) Don't get me wrong, I like DK Joker. It's just that that seems to be all you ever see now. The Chris Nolan Batman franchise has spawned a whole new generation of Batman fans that probably don't even realize that Heath Ledger is just this one microscopic version of Mister J in a pile of Joker incarnation gems of the past in cartoons and comics. *Sad* It makes weeding through the DeviantArt results to find interesting pieces very tedious.

(Hahaha, okay, but I did come across this creepy but adorable LedJoker chibi. So cute in a creepy-clown-doll sort of way.)

Also, has anyone else noticed how funny and a bit disturbing at times it is that pretty much no matter which popular fandom or character you search for on DeviantArt, you'll inevitably end up finding a picture of them depicted as either some sort of canine, feline, or horse relation? Look! It's Joker as a wolf! Look! It's a Jack Sparrow horse! Look! It's a Severus Snape lion! And well hey now, that seems to be a bit of strange anatomical position to put him in with that Dumbledore lio-- ohmygodmyeyes *close tab close tab CLOSE TAB!* DX I guess it just goes to show there's a crazy furry enthusiast in every fandom. Though for the sake of the rest of the fan community there should be some sort of browsing filter.

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: 26

Gahhh! Still forty-four days until house possession *angst* but thankfully only two days until house inspection, which will be the only time between now and then that I'll be allowed back into the shiny eventually-to-be-ours new home! I will have a mere three-ish hours to bask and take pictures and measure out rooms! D: *Grasps camera and measuring tape determinedly*

I went to the an SPCA volunteer orientation session tonight and signed up for four different possible programs to take part in~ I didn't realize what a long process applying to be a volunteer was -- I submitted my application at the end of May, just got into the orientation today, and probably won't hear back from the organizer until mid-July. I thought I would already be swimming in puppies, kitties, and piles of furry bunnies by now, but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. Apparently since they opened the new location (omg such a nice building, the open house was awesome~) they've had an insane outpouring of new volunteer support so I have to wait my turn. It both saddens me to wait but makes me extremely happy to know so many people want to lend a hand. X3

I've recently finished two books: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, which was short and simple, but truely superb (I highly recommend this book -- it's such an easy read but has such an impact); and Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. It was all right, though t's not one of her better books that I've read; maybe because it was an earlier work -- or maybe because the lead male character reminds me so much Edward freaking Cullen that I want to hurl it across the room. Oh look at me, I'm so perfectly perfect and gorgeous, but behind this peckish godly exterior hides an abusive, broody (and amazingly annoying) MONSTERRRRRR, arrrrr! All it needs is a little veggie vampirism thrown in and they could be a pair of most likely very dysfunctional twins.

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: 44 (I think I may go crazy)

While we were camping this past weekend we were given a copy of the Wabamun rules and warnings which included a note about wildlife to watch out for, emphasizing in particular "BEARS".

o_O

Well see, now we're just confused. Are these bears abnormal in some way? Are they actually ferocious man-eating bunnies that you like to pass off as bears? Or maybe park rangers dressed up in cheap bear suits in an effort to catch us off guard breaking the May Long liquor ban? They obviously pose a possible threat of some sort since you went out of your way to wield the PWR OF TEH CAPSLCK. Were the ambiguous air quotes really necessary? Now we can't tell whether it's a legitimate warning or an inside joke on behalf of the campground clerical staff that we're not in on. Or perhaps some idiots still do not understand that quotation marks ≠ emphasis.

I just finished My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and I think it's the closest I've ever come to actually crying reading a book. The ending was... just... *anguished little noise* For fear of spoiling the story (which apparently I very often do unintentionally -- sorry!) you should just take me at my word when I say the book is amazingly good and you should all go read it now.

I started watching the first few episodes of Batman Beyond and it manages to fill the little empty hole that BtAS left after finishing off the final season. It's much darker than the original series... Watching the first episode suddenly makes the whole scene in Revenge of the Joker where Terry descends down into the graffitied Batcave so much more gut wrenching. D: Also, I don't know whether it's just because he's crotchety and old in this series or not, but Bruce is much more of a dick sometimes in BB. "Bring back the suit." "No!" *Beep* "GAAAA!" ^^; (Oh Batman, disgruntled and wrinkly as you may be, we still love you.)

On a reverse note, does anyone else cringe at how often Batman says "chum" in the older comics? I realize the character has changed a lot since over the years, but it's very... un-Batsy compared to today's modern Batman who's much more broody and much less... bromancey. Look at him, he smiling too much! It's unnerving. Like ol' Brucie's trying to throw you off and at any moment he's going to whirl around and punch you in the face when you're not expecting it. (Or rape you if you're Robin.)

"Come on, chum. Let's go home... and 'go to bed'." *Grins and swings off into the sunset.*

Suuure.

Sorry guys, but I'm really struggling to force myself to finish reading Outlander. It's only rated a Somewhat Entertaining on the Brenna Scale of Awesome -- there's only so many times in one book that the heroine can be almost killed and/or raped, have her big burly Scotsman husband save her at the last moment, and then go off and have piles of hot sex before it all becomes a little repetitive. At times it also feels like a bad Harlequin smut novel, with such cheese-filled gems as:

I pressed my hips back against him, inviting, and settled against
him with a sigh as his solid hardness filled me.

and...

"I want to leave the feel of me deep inside ye with my seed."

I felt silly just typing out the quote out here. I had to put the book down for a while to gather up my brain from the floor.

In other news, OMG I finally fixed my internet! It's been sickeningly slow on my Mac here at home, but yet fine on Mason's PC. *Terrible cloud of irritated confusion* Apparently Apple is doing... something... with their DNS... something or other... (I don't actually understand all the techno-babble at all) but basically whatever it is made interwebbing really slow -- but everyone seemed to point to a specific OpenDNS thing to fix the problem, and it did! HUZZUH! Hello speedy 'nets, I missed you~

I've been spending a lot of time lately expanding my (previously complete lack-thereof) collection of Batman comics, most notably issues that predominately feature the Joker and/or Harley Quinn; and heavily helped by the conveniently compiled list created by the wonderful webmistress of Love Dat Joker. (I love when all the hard work is already done for me.) So far I've managed to find everything from the main Batman series, most of Detective Comics, as well as all the animated titles and several issues and mini-series' from here and there.

It's been fun finally getting to read some of those really popular and well-known stories that I've only heard about before, despite having to battle through all the horrible retro art that makes me cringe. (I'm a sucker for the sexy, modern penciling more along the lines of Jim Lee.) Stories like "A Death in the Family" have been a great read, but the visuals almost ruin it for me. T-T

This avatar screams out for an amusing caption of some kind, but I don't know what.