Regarding Tortall: Alanna and Aly

Another random post about another series of book written by the most amazing YA Fantasy author ever Tamora Pierce. I just want to say now that Song of the Lioness is my most favourite quartet (and books) ever and the Tortall universe in general is my dream. Well, not really, I don't want to live in medieval times but I wish I could meet and know all the characters because all of them are so bad-ass and brilliant.

But that's not what I want to talk about at the moment. What I want to talk about is the relationship between Alanna and her daughter Alianne. (I've been re-reading the Daughter of the Lioness you see). Can I just say that I really love this relationship? Or, well, I find it very intriguing.

I'll just say right now, Alanna is my most favourite character ever, George x Alanna is my biggest OTP for this universe, and pretty much any time either of these two are mentioned in any of the books I go nuts and get incredibly happy. My biggest wish is just to see what their married life is like with their children and the thing is - in Aly's story we get a very small glimpse of Alanna's relationship with her daughter - and it's a complicated one.

The thing is, at first glance, it seems like Aly somewhat resents her mother, or they don't get along. And most people would think that in general Alanna just doesn't spend much time with her children, isn't very close with them etc. but after re-reading Trickster's Choice that's not the feeling I get at all. Aly clearly misses her mother, and Alanna is clearly going nuts at the fact that her daughter is missing. I just found those moments very sweet - when Aly noticed the relationship between Sarai and Winna and likened it to her own relationship with her mother. The thing is - they clearly care and love each other quite a bit but their personalities clash so strongly that it's difficult for them to get along (for now). Aly is after all, still a growing teenager, and Alanna just has issues understanding how her daughter works at the moment.

Tammy has clearly said that Aly eventually grows to understand her mother more and I can see this happening. Aly does respect her mother quite a bit already as a teenager (her indignation at the fact that someone did not know her mother, and how much faith and pride she puts in her mothers ability as a warrior is something I find very telling) and I can see, as she gets older, Aly understanding what it's like to be constantly driven to do something with yourself because she herself has suddenly found that passion in her work as a spymaster.

If anything I see Aly as a perfect combination of her two parents. She has the skills and calm, easy-going manner as her father, but she's also incredibly stubborn and determined like her mother - she just doesn't realise the latter part yet.

Really all I'm here to say is, Alanna and her relationship with her kids. I need more of this because... well, could you imagine 19 year old Alanna at the end of Lioness Rampant being a mother? It's a different sort of character growth that you obviously cannot release a novel about but... my god I wish I could read about it anyway.

Heir Series - Linda x Lee

Alright so another topic that's coming out of nowhere - again I started re-reading an old series from my... adolescence (I have fic that I wrote from 2007 so I'm guessing that's when I first read the books) and it's called The Heir Series written by Cinda Williams Chima. I'm not under the impression that is is a particularly famous series compared to some other child fantasy stories but I must admit - after re-reading it that it definitely is a favourite of mine. Although I'm mostly judging this by the fact that this series has virtually no fanfic - but this might be just because the general population that reads this series is way too young to write fic. Which makes me sad and desperate so I'm going to do some flailing and what-not here.

進撃の巨人(Shingeki no Kyojin) - Attack on Titan

So... normally I avoid really hyped up anime/manga that people are flailing about because it always just seem like people like them for the "hot guys" (*cough*Free!*cough*) but after seeing some panels of the manga and reading about the plot I decided that this was something I should check out and what a huge mistake I made.

Let's Talk Harry Potter

I've pretty much spent all the spare time I've had the past week with my head shoved into a Harry Potter book. It was like I'd turned back to my 8 year old self, where I had my face shoved into a book pretty much any moment I was not in class and I read Harry Potter so much I head nearly memorized the first 3 books word for word.

Music Station [2013.05.31] - Endless Game Performance

If you're wondering why I didn't write a review of Endless Game it's because I actually really dislike the song. As for the rest of the songs on the album? I don't remember them but I just remember I didn't like any of them. I tried giving Monochrome a chance because it sounded jazzy but it was horrible.

With all that being said... I love the performance for Endless Game. Has it made me like the song? No. I still can't listen to the song without stopping it within 30secs, but I am willing to rewatch this performance multiple times because I legitimately think it's that great.

I was pretty hesitant about watching the performance because I knew how much I disliked the song but I was, surprisingly, hooked from the beginning. I was actually multitasking when I started the video so I laughed a bit when I paused the performance because it looked like the pose they'd have to the cover of an album. But onto the dance. It was cool. From what I could see, the black on black and crazy camera angles made watching them a bit of a pain but I enjoyed it. I really appreciate all the little, repetitive, precise dance movements they do like the horse-riding looking thing, the left-to-right hip swing, a few of the arm movements etc. I don't know why but watching any dance I've always appreciated little movements like that. They always seems more awesome and entertaining to me than spinning on the floor, or doing flips.

There were some parts of the dance that were kind of awkward though, like when they were trying to move in "slow" motion (or were they trying to do some pop-lock motion cause that did not show through at all).

The end of the song is also great though. I was glad they didn't go the Face Down/Breathless route having the members make a aisle on the middle for the main to walk through - I got tired of that already. What they did with the standing in a line was great. I know other groups have done it - and Arashi certainly has done things like this in other songs but a lot of the times the camera isn't centered in or it's just... not all that impressive to watch but for Endless Game it was impressive and I loved it.

Random note - when Sho (or any one of them) says "Warning" it sounds like "ワニ" (Wani) to me and that means crocodile so whenever I heard them say warning I couldn't help but grin or chuckle a little. When I first heard the song I was always curious about what Sho was saying because it sounded like someone took his voice and stuck it through the whammy bar of an electric guitar. But anyway.

All in all it was a cool performance and considering how much I hate the song - yet I love this performance - it goes to show how great it really is.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Where Spock x Kirk as an OTP is canon and Benedict Cumberpatch plays Sherlock Holmes with a bit of revenge on his mind.

Jokes aside.

It wasn't a bad movie. I enjoyed the ambiguity of who was the villain and who was the "good guy". You could see that Khan, although terrible, was not 100% evil and Kirk wasn't an angel either. It's a bit load of gray, where you question whether you should be mad at this guy, or feel pity for him. Obviously you end up cheering when he gets defeated but there is that moment of doubt halfway through the movie where you begin to question "is he really that bad". Or at least I did. I've never watched Star Trek though so it's not like the name "Khan" would've rung any warning bells. Did it surprise me that the Admiral was hell-bent on war? No. It was a very "modern" movie in a way. People bent on war, people bent on revenge, terrorism, destruction. Some of them could be our fathers, some of them could be people who have lost everything. I believe the messages the movie was trying to stress were apt and enjoyable without being too preachy.

The other message they were trying to shove though, which was Spock x Kirk (called, quite lovingly, Kock?) was a bit too much for my tastes. I love my good share of bromance and friendships, things like LoTR and The Avengers but the "touching hands between the glass" etc. etc. was just a teensy bit too much. I just don't like having pairings and ships shoved down my throat (if you haven't noticed with Sherlock *cough*) when the point of the movie is not romantic. And I know, I know, Kirk and Spock are supposed to be besties but come on. Maybe I've been hanging around tumblr too much,  I think this is a sign I need to step away from the computer.

The lovers quarrel was amusing though. What I like about Star Trek is their humor, and the character dynamics that allow for this humor. I enjoy me some Spock and Kirk interaction with the quick barbs and witty banter just as much as I enjoy Scotty and Bones (Dr. McCoy).

And I will not retract what I said about Benedict Cumberpatch. Khan was simply another Sherlock Holmes with some revenge in his system. This is merely a note about his acting though. I think I enjoy Khan's character more for his ambiguity as a villain, as I've already mentioned. I'll admit though, that I could be completely biased and I just don't like Benedict Cumberpath, that is also a completely valid reason for me nitpicking at him.

Good movie, I enjoyed it. Was it a masterpiece? I wouldn't say so and I'm not exactly jumping up and down for it to win any Oscars but it was a satisfying sequel to an already great series.

Fire Emblem: Awakening

I know, this has nothing to do with Arashi but I said this was a fangirl blog and I am fangirling Fire Emblem: Awakening. Well - fangirling isn't really the correct word but I'm pretty obsessed with this game.

When I first started I didn't realize there was a marriage system but once I did realize I pretty much spent all my time pairing people together just for fun, and then I realized they had children and the parents actually effected the stats of the child and I hit another whole new level of intense. I also realise I majorly screwed up with my pairings and a majority of my 2nd-gen characters aren't as strong as they apparently "could be". I currently have about 8-9 super strong characters that can pretty much 1HKO anything and then all my other characters are.. manageable but frustrating.

Chrom, MU, Lucina, Morgan, Lon'qu + Panne, Henry + Tharja... and Kjelle is getting there but when people get through her defense she goes down. Henry and Tharja are also a bit iffy, as they can IHKO but like Kjelle, once they're hit they go down pretty fast. Lon'qu  paired with Panne, neither of them ever get hit and MU is such a beast I can't even deal with how much of a beast she is. Morgan and Lucina as well. Chrom is lacking a bit compared to these three but honestly.

My other characters are just fodder and this is my "normal" file. I've begun a new one on Hard and mean to do this one properly and more logically (thinking more about stats, level-ups, and abilities) but I realised very quickly that Hard mode is definitely a lot harder and there is actually quite a big learning curve for me. Normal mode allowed me to beast through everything relatively easily without giving too much though, but Hard I really have to think as a tactician.

All-in-all I am loving this game and it's going to keep me occupied for a while. Which is good because I that means I can hold of buying new games which means saving money :)