It's not Christmas yet, but it appears that I've made it to Thanksgiving.

( I wrote two essays back to back last week, so the last thing I want to do is write more about iSchool )

Once upon a time, Cillian Murphy came to town and a foolish little village girl was woefully unprepared.

( Never again, she vowed )

Yeah, I know, I haven't gotten around to blogging about my birthday, or the first day of iSchool, or how I got roped into volunteering at my co-worker's church fundraiser. All in good time.

Next Narnia movie starts filming next week! Next Batman movie films next year (according to Gary Oldman, at least)! Burger King hooks up with Twilight in an unholy marketing alliance! One day I'll be there for the madness, so I won't miss something like Johnny Depp randomly showing up (video plus Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer included).

Pirates 4 filming next year? What the carbuncle?

James Cameron offers sneak peeks at Avatar (description only, no video).

Elizabeth Mitchell talks a bit about Juliet.

Dollhouse's other finale. Wait, Joss is employing Alexis Denisof and Summer Glau again? AWESOME.

Completely unrelated: Why is Katherine Heigl so annoying?

And the surprise twist ending of Orphan that made me LOL (major spoiler).

So we can finally add another name after Peter Dinklage to the list of actors who are gonna play A Game of Thrones (HBO's adaptation of ASoIaF, for those not keeping up) - Sean Bean has been confirmed for Ned Stark! I didn't get a chance to check my f-list all day so I was scrolling quickly and almost missed GRRM's announcement on his blog. Jon Snow (note to self: *must prepare another room among harem of TV boyfriends*), King Robert, Joffrey and Viserys have also been cast. THIS IS SO EXCITING OMG.

Other recent adventures:
Sat as a hair model at a hairstyling school and got a free cut. Tallied up my total income from selling crap online - $98. Enrolled in some of my classes without a major panic attack and got into the sections I wanted within that crucial 15-minute window before they all filled up. Went to work on Sunday as an after-hours attendant and had to call the mechanic when my key wouldn't let me into the building. Watched HP6 and fondly recalled being spoiled when the book came out way back in '05.

Oh, and apparently there's a bit of a brouhaha going on about ZQ's sexual orientation. LOL @ THE GRAPH ABOUT HOW IT WOULD IMPACT YOUR LIFE.

( Some Lost-related things )

So last night I had a singularly Summerlicious dining experience, and by that I mean I was really nauseous.

We went to a cozy little French place for what was basically a coming out ceremony for a certain couple. Even with our combined intellects, j_taurus5 and I could not pinpoint the trigger for this event, since the evasive twosome has been carrying on since circa 1602, but neither of us cared enough to interrogate them very harshly. In addition, I wasn't feeling so hot, even before we realized that Henry had ditched us for the umpteenth time pleading infected eye or some other random malady that sounds like he plucked it from a medical textbook (not that we doubt him or anything). I guess I could've done the same, but for once I tried to do the socially acceptable thing, i.e. struggle heroically to participate in the conversation and not double over with pain.

Seriously, I was in pain. Halfway through the first course I had to excuse myself to visit the (very charming, single-occupant) washroom. I returned to the table with the full intention of enjoying the rest of my meal, but as soon as the main dish was served I had to leave again to become violently ill in the ladies' room. Things threatened to get worse when somebody rattled the knob and I had to apologize through the door, and then the toilet almost refused to cooperate, but I managed to get out without anything horribly embarrassing happening. Fun times. Although j_taurus5 thought that I provided some of the evening's entertainment (the kicker: "How do you think Lost will end?"), so I guess I wasn't too off my game. I can't remember any of the other greatest hits though, so can you please fill in the blanks? Maybe I'm repressing the memories already.

Today, Henry sends an email saying "it seems you guys had a blast." It appears that he arrived at this conclusion based on a picture of dessert. Well, at least the crème brûlée was decent.

*

In fandom-related news, I wrote a Lost/ASoIaF crossover thing for thetourneys. It's not very coherent but I had fun with it. Currently fighting the urge to make a Faraday vid. I know if I start that project it will CONSUME me. On the other hand, back to school in September and the Hellmouth will swallow me just as quickly...

( Leaked scene from Season 6 premiere, rumoured to be titled Beyond The Wall )

So on Thursday night I went to the iSchool for the first time ever for a Very Special Meet & Greet. (I don't think I officially discussed my return to a Hellmouth. Well, quick recap: previously on my apocalyptic show, like early-March-previously, I was accepted into grad school and apparently I'm on my way to become a librarian starting this fall. I have absolutely no tweed in my wardrobe. WHAT TO DO.)

( The premiere of my iSchool LJ tag! )


Apparently the MMVAs were on, but I didn't care about anyone there so I watched the premiere of Merlin on CTV. I kinda liked it a lot. Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon? Torchwood's Eve Myles guesting as a possessed singer? A cheesy talking dragon and random liberties with Arthurian legend? It worked for me.

THIS JUST IN: first uber-creepy look at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

David Eddings has died.

The world of fantasy literature has lost another of its modern giants. Much like my reaction when I learned of Robert Jordan's death, this deeply saddens me.

I'm ashamed to say that I don't own The Belgariad or The Mallorean; I saw one of the omnibus editions in a secondhand bookstore maybe last year and considered buying it for nostalgia's sake, but convinced myself not to because when was I ever going to reread these books? These formulaic, FUN, enjoyably clichéd books from my childhood that may have changed my life. I was 10, maybe 11, when I found Pawn of Prophecy on a shelf in the school library.



Look at that cover. Old school, isn't it? I actually read Eddings before Tolkien - it was BECAUSE of The Belgariad that I picked up The Lord of the Rings, and then The Wheel of Time, and Terry Brooks and Weis & Hickman and Ursula K. Le Guin and Mickey Zucker Reichert and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Guy Gavriel Kay and so on.... Garion was not the first or only farm boy destined to save the world, but he's the first one I met, and I will always remember him for that. Along with his millennia-old grandfather and aunt, and his fellowship of random companions, and their epic quest through made-up kingdoms to fulfill an ancient prophecy and defeat a Big Bad.

Unlike with WoT, I don't remember any specific scenes that had a profound effect on me. I do know that I attempted to write my own version though - or an AU fic, or something - by changing the names of characters and countries, lol. I think I shipped Silk and Porenn without knowing what shipping was. I read - and LOVED - the prequels about Belgarath and Polgara. Polgara was badass.



Thank you for the stories, David Eddings, and for making me want to tell stories of my own.

ZQ celebrates his 32nd birthday by... growing a horrifying pornstache.

The fans cope by making attractive picspams.

Speaking of fans, zqfans has over 1,000 members now. Live long and prosper, ZQ! And remember to shave.

It's Doors Open Toronto weekend and nobody would go to Black Creek Pioneer Village with me. I need cooler friends.

So I've started my quest to see as much of Jeremy Davies' work as possible because I need some form of Daniel Faraday in my life, and I just finished watching Twister. Yes, the 1996 disaster movie. I realized about halfway through that Philip Seymour Hoffman is in it. HAHAHA. How very random. Anyway, Jeremy Davies plays the camera guy on Helen Hunt's tornado-chasing team. He has like maybe 10 lines but every time he got to say something I was like YAY, that's why I'm watching this movie! lol. I also enjoyed trying to spot him in the background of every group scene. At the end, after the big storm and right before the credits, he collapses on the ground in exhausted relief/celebration, and it's so awesome.

Unfortunately, aside from this movie, Saving Private Ryan and Solaris, the library is really not being helpful towards my mission. It doesn't even have Rescue Dawn, which is ridic because Christian Bale is in it, and you would think some librarian in the system knows that there is demand for Christian Bale. That is something I would know if I worked in DVD collections management. FAIL, TPL, EPIC FAIL.

I don't really have a tag for this. Maybe they'll teach me how to create better tags in iSchool.

( OMGWTF The Incident )

Now I really have to sleep. Maybe if we're lucky we'll wake up in 2010...

I am currently very much in love with my latest TV boyfriend, Lost's Daniel Faraday, but I have not forgotten that it's a very exciting time to be a ZQ fangirl. I saw Star Trek on Friday ("Hey, wasn't there also a giant red ball of doom on Alias?" lol) and I'm almost caught up with his appearances on what seems to be every talk show on air and every magazine cover on the newsstand.

( OUR BOY, HE DONE GOOD )

Oh God, I was sneezing all day yesterday and I thought it was spring allergies and now my nose won't stop running. This is not good.

Epic spoilers for "The Variable."

( On the 100th episode milestone of Lost, the time of reckoning has begun when Daniel Faraday comes clean regarding what he knows about the island )

Avast me hearties, it's the "25 Things" meme done the fangirl way: 25 Ships, and counting! Because favourite ships are just as revealing as a list of 25 random facts, perhaps more so. Originally conceived as a Valentine's Day picspam to celebrate life on the high seas. Aye, I do be the geekiest wench ye ever met.

Crossposted here because who knows if the next Facebook facelift will make all our albums disappear.

( Beware mateys, here be spoilers! )

Long time no blog. More TK.

Carnegie Mellon profile of ZQ. And a GQ raincoat photoshoot (yes, in the RPattz issue).

Olympians cast in first Percy Jackson movie. Sean Bean as Zeus and Kevin McKidd as Poseidon, great balls of fire! I am looking forward to this - I read and liked The Lightning Thief and have been meaning to finish the series. (I've been meaning to do a lot of things. My life is one big TK.)

Ciaran Hinds to play Aberforth Dumbledore in HP7?

Next time on The Ondrayuh Show: when March Break leaves you March Broken; gems found amid old J-Skool emails; Return to the Hellmouth.

I thought I could make it through to the spring without getting sick. No such luck. *sniffles sadly*

But I did manage to fit in some posh activities this week, doing some Winterlicious dining, going to the theatre, putting my red pocket money to very classy use. (Speaking of the new year, there's a superstition that your own zodiac year conflicts with you, so Oxen like me - and basically everybody I know, lol - should beware of the Year of the Ox. Someone should tell Obama - he's an Ox too!) I saw a production of Euripides' Medea, and it was intense. Possibly too intense for the old couple seated to my right, because they didn't come back after intermission. You know, I've never walked out of any movie/performance. I'm a firm believer in getting the full value of my ticket. Hahaha.

(We totally could've gotten in for free. Some nice lady was offering her extra tickets to strangers in line at the box office, ONLY WE'D ALREADY PAID DAMMIT.)

Anyway. Just something I have to say about Medea: I thought she was awesome when I was 10, because chopping up your brother, poisoning your rival, and killing your children to hurt their father aren't things that spin your moral compass when you're 10 (but then, I'm a weird kid). And honestly, I still think she's an awesome character. "You thought me soft and submissive like a common woman - who takes a blow and cries a little, and she wipes her face and runs about the housework, loving her master? I am not such a woman." She's a compelling protagonist who commits abominable acts, a villain who doesn't make idle threats, a tragic heroine, the original vengeance demon.

Nurse: Time's running out!
Medea: I have time. Oh, I have time. It would be good to stand here a thousand years and think of nothing but the deaths of three persons.
Nurse: Ai! There's no hope then. Ai, child, if you could do this red thing you dream of, all Corinth would pour against you.
Medea: After my enemies are punished and I have heard the last broken moan - Corinth? What's that? I'll sleep. I'll sleep well.

I would love to tell a version of her story.

* Note: title of this post is a lyric from Vienna Teng's song "My Medea".



Entertainment Weekly cover story: Lost Inside Season 5. "But the show has gotten to that point where it had to let its freak flag fly. It needed to announce, 'You wanna know what the Island is? You wanna know why these people were brought to the Island? You wanna know what their purpose for being there is?' Well, it might be a little weirder than you would've hoped." -Damon Lindelof

I find it amusing that they call the show a "brilliantly odd, infectiously frustrating crypto-drama" - it's like they're talking about Daniel Faraday. Daniel Faraday and his skinny tie are becoming a S5 highlight for me. I want him to help me do physics homework.

Very interesting thoughts about the episode title "The Little Prince".

The Vampire Diaries are coming to TV! I am really excited about this, despite it obviously being the CW trying to ride on Twilight's coattails. The books are by L.J. Smith, one of my tweenhood's favourite writers. This is going to be such a blast to the past. I hope no frozen donkey wheels are involved, though. [/Lost reference - lately, a day cannot go by that I don't make a Lost reference... send help]

JRM to play the devil in Bible movie. Dual roles of Gabriel and Lucifer? Oooh. I don't even like him as much as I used to, but that is sure to set some loins a-quiver.

The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Medal and I still haven't read it after getting it for Christmas. I am such a bad fan. Will definitely be seeing Coraline though. Neil was actually in town earlier this week for a brief press stop.


I want to stay up to watch more outrageous Christian Bale remixes but I have work at 9 so I'm going off to bed, ah-da-da-dah, like this in the background.

Toronto's fifth homicide of the year caught on tape.

Basil went to elementary school with me. We were in the same class in the eighth grade, and we had a running joke about his name being an herb. I would call him "Herb" when I passed him in the hall, and he would mock-narrow his eyes and then smile widely. He was full of energy and quick to laugh. That's how I remember him.

First post of 2009, and I've had awesome dreams (and remembered them upon waking!) for four consecutive nights. That's gotta be a record, and a sign of something.

Last night: I was in the science department of some sort of educational institute. I think I was there with a friend, but I got lost so I was wandering the gleaming white corridors peeking into glass-walled labs. I came to an elevator and there was a guy waiting for it, so I decided to stick with him and find a way out. He looked over at me and I think he had dark hair and glasses, carried a clipboard or a backpack or something, and I have a vague impression that he looked pretty cute in green, lol. So in my dream I had no problem striking up a flirty conversation with a complete stranger, and by the time we emerged on to a sunlit campus, we were talking and laughing and I felt happy. It was a really nice campus too - lots of trees and running water and like marble buildings and shit. All of a sudden I remembered - or he mentioned - that somebody we both knew was going to be performing some sort of music piece, or giving a speech, so we went into this amphitheatre with Greek columns and sat down together. And I wish I could tell you how the rest of my dream date went, but I woke up. Hahaha.

The night before: So I'm back at the same supermarket where I previously dreamed a zombie apocalypse and this time it's a flood of biblical proportions. I think some other things happened before the flood but they weren't important enough to remember. I had to paddle through the parking lot in like... a sled? a shopping cart? a crate? I don't know. It was weird but the mood of the dream wasn't scary. I made it to the supermarket doors and there was a crowd there waiting in line, and then it wasn't a refugee situation anymore, it was the bloody Oscars, and we were waiting to get into the freakin' Academy Awards! Only there were like three rows of seats in the theatre, and Renee Zellweger was waving at me from across the aisle, WTF. Get out of my dream, Renee.

And the night before that: This one was spooky. I think it was a genuine nightmare, and that's why I forgot most of the details. There was a prologue where I attended a story meeting at the Eyeopener or Nightviews - the latter, I think, because of the conference room - and then the whole building morphed into a creepy warehouse. Some of my co-workers were there, along with other randoms, and we were either tied up or otherwise unable to leave the room. There was a TV screen and someone talking to us and I can't remember what the voice said but I KNEW it was Jigsaw (despite having never watched a Saw movie), and I knew he was going to make us do something horrible. Good thing I woke the hell up. Maybe I scared myself awake.

And the one from before that: After a couple of vignettes (abandoning Cat at a subway station, going to a movie with wdmjen and sitting next to those two guys from those Rogers commercials) the dream acquired something resembling a plot. I made illegal papers for somebody - a fugitive - and the exchange was done in a car, but they were part of a shady organization and couldn't afford my knowing their identity, so they sent a hitman to my house to silence me. I quickly got over the initial shock of the home invasion and I rescued my mom from gunfire in the kitchen. We ran into the backyard which was filled, fantastically, with shrubs shaped like playing cards and then I made my way to another yard where there was a J-School BBQ taking place. Hahaha. And then there was a fist fight possibly inspired by the Charlie Chaplin short I stumbled upon while channel-surfing the night before. Epic.


Going to bed now. Wish me a sweet one tonight.

Apocalyptic story of the day: We lost a bit of audio today during The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but nobody got shot and I made it to the end of the movie without loud snuffling unlike some people. Hahaha. Her Cateness was so beautiful, at all ages. I loved her hair.

( Did I ever tell you I was struck by lightning seven times? )

Lost: S5 poster (DESTINY CALLS. I love it!), group photoshoot (everybody looks photoshopped), promo featuring The Fray's "You Found Me". Clearly, ABC loves The Fray.

Joseph Fiennes to appear on my TV? In a show called Flash Forward!

Star Trek: new trailer, 10 things you should know about ST.

Coraline trailer.


Anyway, I wasn't joking about being a tween SMeyer. I know the following scene looks like a paint-by-numbers fanfic inspired by Bella meeting Edward, cheesiness intact, but it was written like 12 years ago, no lie. ( SMeyer gives me hope that I can get rich with ~epic prose~ such as this )