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Showing posts from March, 2014

Who's the Glamorous Pirate: Why I'm Team Gillingham

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Warning: Contains Downton Abbey spoilers. So a few days ago I wrote a blog about my predictions for Season 5 of Downton Abbey and, in the blog I mentioned that I hope Mary marries Lord Gillingham. Since I know that's a controversial opinion for a lot of people, I wanted to take a few moments to justify myself. To start with, A lot of people argue that Mary should marry Charles Blake because he is more like Matthew. That is precisely why I think Mary shouldn't go for Blake. I mean, she has said many times that she wasn't the same person she was when she met Matthew. I think that's true; Matthew certainly changed Mary. So, maybe, what Mary needs at this point in her life is not another Matthew. Mary mellowed a lot when she was with Matthew, she became a lot nicer and more considerate. I'm not saying that Blake isn't nice, it's just, I could see him with season 1 Mary much easier than I could see him with season 4 Mary. Season 4 Mary seems to do well

I Do Not Have A Gentle Heart: Some Thoughts on Women in Game of Thrones

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So, I recently bought this Game of Thrones t-shirt because I really love this phrase. 'I do not have a gentle heart', that is such a great and descriptive phrase. In case you don't know 'I do not have a gentle heart' describes Dany Targaryen and it's sort of her motto for season 4 of the TV show. Anyway, I got to thinking about what exactly this phrase means. One of the reasons I like Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire so much, is that the characters are so realistic and well rounded, especially the female characters.  So often in fantasy novels that take place in a medieval world, the female characters take one of three forms: the tough but noble  do-gooder, the evil queen, and the locked in a tower princess. I think this is partly because  medieval writers had an extremely limited vocabulary when describing women, so fantasy writers who look back to that time period think that only two types of women existed in the medieval age: the paragon

New Blog: Updates

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So, as you may have guessed from the title of this blog, I recently started a new blog ! Earlier today I went to Barnes and Noble with a couple of friends, and, long story short, one of my friends and I ended up walking out of the store with identical copies of this book: Because that's just the best way to spend $16, right? Anyway, about half way into writing our first entries, we realized 'this would be a really cool thing to blog about'. Anyway, the rest is history. We've started a new blog to record our responses to the 642 prompts in this book.  These responses might take the form of short stories or poems, but mostly, It's just a way to jump start some creative writing, and, more importantly, post some more random stuff on the internet, because, that's what the internet is for. In all seriousness, though, we would really love some support for this new project, so check it out here if you have the chance! Just sayin'

The Best Justin: Bieber vs. Timebrlake

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So, I recently read this article about Justin Bieber and I have to say, I never quite realized how much I  disliked him. I mean, up until this point, he was sort of a minor annoyance in my life, like Canadian pennies and one way streets. Like, until I read up on his arrest record, I had no idea how much bad stuff Biebs was up to. Like, egging someone's house? What is this middle school? But all kidding aside, DUIs, ordering your body guards to beat up paparazzi, and harassing flight attendants are all pretty serious stunts. I know I may take some hate for this opinion, but even if you like Bieber's music, you have to admit he's messed up pretty seriously lately, and there's no excuse for breaking the law. Like, because he looks like he's twelve years old, I think people forget that he's a menace to society. Anyway, the point is, Bieber is ruining the good name of celebrity Justins. Like seven years ago, if you said the name Justin in reference to a celebrity

Seven Predictions for Season 5 of Downton Abbey

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Warning: Contains Spoilers! So, March is right in the middle of  what I like to call the TV doldrums. Game of Thrones and True Blood haven't started yet, Big Bang Theory is still on its season break, but perhaps most horribly, I'm going to have to wait another whole year for the new season of Downtown Abbey . I mean, I think the only way I can console myself is to watch all seven seasons of Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Amazon Instant. However, in between binge watching 'best of Salem the talking cat' videos on YouTube and reliving the episode when the Backstreet Boys guest starred on Sabrina , I decided to make a couple of predictions about Downton Abbey season 5 to make the waiting time go faster. Here it goes: #teamgillingham Prediction Number 1: Something horrible happens to one of Mary's suitors. A few months ago I wrote a blog entitled Who Will Mary Marry ? I think that's one of the primary questions going into season 5. I mean, this questi

Why Prince Hans isn't the Villain of Frozen

So, I am of the opinion that seeing the movie Frozen was possibly the best decision I've ever made in my entire life. I loved it! It's easily the best of the new generation of Disney movies (although Tangled will always occupy a special place in my heart). Anyway, a few days ago, I was procrastinating studying for an exam and I started looking up different songs from Frozen in different languages (I've come to the conclusion that everything sounds better in Norwegian) and I came across a version of Love is an Open Door in Spanish ( La Puerta es el Amor ( The Door is Love - not so good in Spanish)) and there was a comment on the video that made me think. Someone had written that Disney intended this to be Prince Hans' "Villain Song", since later on in the movie you would realize how sinister it really was. This is troubling to me, because I don't think Prince Hans was the villain of Frozen . Sure, he was a villain in Frozen , but he's not the v