yes, well....

As you can see I'm working on a new background for my blog - only problem is, no matter what I do it doesn't seem to want to fit itself properly to the dimensions on the screen. If you can't see all the characters, you will be able to if you zoom out once or twice ... yeah. Working on getting that fixed. Anyways, the background consists of a few of my favorite characters from tv, film and literature - that is, if you can see them. Hopefully by the end of the day they will be properly visible and I can write a real blog post!

EDIT: Yay, it fits! Hoorah. :)

staring hard at the mess will not make it go away....

First off, a hippity happity birthday to Keira, because I know she'll read this at some point :)

Rah. I have thus far spent the morning cleaning various things and being overwhelmed by other untidy parts of the house, packing my bag for two sleepovers and hopping across the great fluffy carpet in the living room in an attempt to keep the nail polish on my toes unblemished. Also attempted to clean the snake cage but Alastor is (as his namesake) rahter Moody this morning and refuses to let my hand be inside his cage unless he can give it a good nip. Not nice, in my opinion.

I'm so excited for this weekend. Off to Katherine's place to roast s'mores with her and Beth tonight, then heading to Patrick's for his 18th, staying the night there and then coming home after church on Sunday and having two nights in the house with Keira, whilst the family is away camping. Shall be fun.

Hmmm. Felt like blogging but I quite obviously don't have that much interesting to say. Well, in other news I got my hair cut (yes, I did it - the Emma Watson/Mia Wasikowska cut), and I'll put pictures up in my next blog once I have photos.

Tata for now loves.

NaNoWriMo win!

I did it! I wrote 50,000 words in a month!

I wrote a 30,000 word novella which ran out of plot really quickly because it was so simple, so for the second 20,000 I started a second novel, which is nowhere near finished and the first story needs MAJOR editing, but I'm happy that I accomplished my goal of writing that much in so little a time.

Congrats to other NaNo winners! And good luck for the last two days if you're yet to reach the mark :)

seriously tempted...

... to cut my hair like this.

Hmmm. Or grow it out really long. Opinions on which I should do first?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - SPOILER WARNING

Reviewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. If you have not yet seen the movie, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT read this. If you're not intending to see the movie, or you've already seen it, then by all means, proceed! :)

Firstly. The book is SO much better.

But.

Wow. I'm totally amazed by this Potter film. It's definitely the best by far, I think it was quite faithful to the book and I was so engaged the whole time. Sure, it got a little slow in the middle but the book is like that too. Overall I was satisfied with the film and really enjoyed it.

The openings scenes were brilliant - I always get SO excited when the title rolls up, so it was awesome not to be disappointed by what I saw immediately after it. The scene at the Malfoy manor was great, it really looked exactly like how I had pictured it when reading the book, and the death of Charity Burbage was so terrible. That scene really set up how dark this movie was going to be.

I would really love to add more on what I thought of the cinematography, etc, but I don't actually know what I thought of it! I really need to see the film again to be able to talk about details like that. Perhaps this is an excuse to go back again in a couple weeks....

I must say of the trio - Emma and Rupert stole this film. Sure Daniel is the hero as Harry, but as far as acting goes these two outshone him by far. I appreciated Emma Watson in this film much, much more than in the others - I really think she stepped up in this one and honestly, for the first time, I actually felt like I was completely watching Hermione than Emma. I've always had a bit of trouble watching her and Rupert play Hermione and Ron because they don't look anything like how I picture the characters ... I finally forgot all about that in this film.

I'm gonna talk about a few favorite scenes....

**SPOILER ALERT**

 1. The Seven Potters

First off. This scene. Hee. It was quite well-done, the way the characters changed into Harry. I loved watching their expressions and seeing Fred and George behind Harry's eyes, or Fleur's voice as Harry stripped off his shirt. Plus the lines in this scene were quite true to the book, which I love. Especially Fred and George saying, 'Hey, we're identical!' Also loving the way the girls are standing in Harry's body. Makes me giggle.

 2. Ginny and Harry

This shot is the moment when Ginny and Harry break apart from kissing and notice George standing in the kitchen. Hysterically awkward. Love it. Was disappointed that Ginny only had basically one scene in the whole movie. Ginny's one of my favorite characters, after all. Looking forward to seeing her appear again in part two.

3. The Ministry of Magic

Hehe I loved this whole bit of the movie. The three actors who played Harry, Ron and Hermione in this were so good, especially the guy who did Harry - he had Daniel's walk down-pat! So funny. And Ron's line "my wife's downstairs all alone" was so hilarious. Ron, you don't have a wife.

Also, after this scene, when Ron gets splinched - thought that was quite brilliant too. I loved the way they showed Hermione's protective spells when the Snatchers passed by. Great scene.

4. The Locket

As for this scene ... I have no words. I couldn't find a screenshot of what was in the locket ... but we don't really need to see it again do we? I am scarred for life. Thankfully it meant nothing!

5. Malfoy Manor - Hermione's torture

This scene. Oh my word. I felt like throwing up in the movie theatre, I was so freaked out. For me this was always such a chilling scene in the book - Ron's helpless and heartbreaking reaction was bad enough, but then Hermione actually comes up with a lie while being Cruicioed. She's tough, man. In the movie this scene was far scarier - I didn't even think that was possible. I was not prepared at all for them to show any of the torture because in the book you read it from Harry and Ron's perspective, and all you hear are Hermione's screams. It is so much worse when you actually see it happen.

Helena Bonham Carter plays Bellatrix's motive for torturing Hermione slightly differently than written in the book. She's doing it much more for 'fun' rather than the information. It's so chilling. Quite honestly scary. 

Oh ... and when Hermione awakens and sees the word 'mudblood' carved on her arm ... I wanted to cry.






6. Dobby's Death

So devastating. Not to mention it was right after we had to sit through Hermione screaming in pain for several heart-wrenching minutes. What a way to end the film. I love Dobby, and this scene was so so so sad. But so brilliant. I totally teared up when he said how beautiful the place was, and how happy he was to be with his friends. Dobby, you will always have a special place in my heart. Now I have to go on with the rest of this review before I cry....

7. The last screen shot

Oh, how I shiver with delight when I see this image. It's not over. Be afraid.

Other noteworthy scenes that I must mention - the scene in Bathilda Bagshot's house was the second most scary scene. It was the most frightening in the book, and when Harry and Hermione entered her house, the whole scene from the book came flooding back to me and I flipped out in my seat in the cinema and started watching through my fingers. Thankfully it wasn't quite so frightening as I imagined. Still so, so creepy. Loved it.

Another brilliant scene was The Tale of the Three Brothers, when we find out about the Deathly Hallows. Loved how they did that, and loved that Hermione did the voice-over. It was very cool.

Well, that was probably the darkest, scariest, most brilliant Harry Potter film ever. I give it four stars - although that is pushing it a little, because it's nothing compared to the book. Hoping I can give the last one 4.5. CAN'T WAIT!

3 REASONS!

For you to come to Newtown Festival this Sunday the 14th of November.

A) You will have fun listening to live music, hanging out with friends, eating awesome food and shopping for cool nifty stuff in all the stalls.

B) You can help my youth group, SALT, spread the word about God's amazing grace by handing out these books of Luke's gospel:

C) You can help me hand out these pamphlets that I made for Orphan Awareness (click to enlarge).

Is there anything better you could possibly do this weekend? I think not!

It's almost time!

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo in just a few days! So I thought I'd share with you my writing space, as I did last year - it's changed somewhat! I still have the same space, same desk and chair, but the photos around the wall have spread much wider, and more posters have been acquired ... here's a wide shot of my room:

There's still a bit of space in the top-right corner yet to be filled with photos ... but I'm getting there :D Here's a closeup of the desk: 

Featuring my amazing NEW macbook Artemis, No Plot, No Problem! by Chris Baty, and a wonderful, epic NaNoWriMo calendar made by and awesome NaNo-er. I was going to credit them with it but when I tried to get back onto the thread where I got it from it wouldn't let me! So I will come back and credit them for it later. If you happen to be that NaNo-er ... thanks a million! :) It's awesome. Now, over to the right of the desk....

Is my epic book shelf. The lower shelves are quite obviously in need of arranging as I'm running out of room for books ... but the row of books on top are the most important for NaNo, as they're all the writing/reference/research books and stuff. Here's a close-up if you wanna check out my books ;) if a title catches your eye leave a comment and I'll let you know if the book is worth getting .. some of those are AMAZING and some, well ...

 

So yeah! My space. I'm pretty pumped for NaNo. Let's hope I do better than last year ... if you're participating, leave a comment with your username and I'll add you as a buddy! :)

MIGHTY TO SAVE!

Hi guys,

So I'm here to update on my previous post about Yulia - our prayers have been answered!!! $20,000 were raised for her in less than a week - and now there is a wonderful family who is totally, unconditionally in love with her and they want to bring her home.

YULIA HAS A FAMILY! She is coming home. She will soon know how much she is loved. And hopefully, she will one day know how much Jesus loves her too. I am completely over the moon! How good is this news?!

Nothing is impossible for our amazing, wonderful, loving, mountain-moving God! Praise his name, for he is mighty to save! <3

If you'd like to read a little bit more about Yulia, click here. :)