A Birthday Treat From Yours Truly - No There's No Cake or Giveaways Sorry

So it’s been almost FOUR years since I’ve started this blog although it remains to be seen how well I’ve made my presence felt in the bloggerverse. A quick perusal through my blogroll will advertise the embarrassing fact that I’ve not exactly tried very hard to be an actual blogger.

In these four years, not once did I celebrate any blog-related milestones (probably because there aren’t many to speak of) so I thought I’d celebrate my birthday with you guys. And I wasn't lying, there really is no cake. No there aren’t any giveaways either. You know I'm too poor for either of those.

But there is something.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been vapid enough to google whether there have been anyone you admire/adore/adulate – I mean ANYONE –  who shares the same birthday as you. I have, and the results were dismal.

But then, inevitably, upon my baptism to the EXO fandom, I happily learn I share my birthday with this dork.

Is it just me or does he seem a little put off by that fact?

Anyways, this was my reaction when I found out

And I decided I’ll post a Kai GIF-rabilia post (I have to be the first to coin such a term) to celebrate my birthday. Pardon me for being way too excited to just let this momentous stroke of absolute luck pass by. Imagine if I hadn’t discovered EXO.

OH THE HORROR

Now everyone knows the dancing machine EXO Kai.

SOMEONE CALL THE DOCTOR INDEED

So, I thought I’ll throw up some (meaning, a lot of) gifs celebrating the man (kid? honestly I’ve no idea) off the stage. There is a difference between the two, actually.

If this is Kai –

Smoulder #1

Smoulder #2

The Smirk (that will be the end of me)

Then this is Jongin.

Aegyo #1 fail FAIL DAMMIT On Point

Aegyo #2

A Jongin Tutorial on How To Break Make Hearts

I thought I'd also share some other interesting facts about him that I've gleaned over the past three months.

(Does it show? That I'm a newbie to the KPOP fandom?)

(Really. Who am I kidding?)

1. EVERYONE loves Kai. 

BEHOLD Kai's fangirl army base

And then there's the biggest Kai fan of all time.

Featuring Kai's Death Stare and a Blushing Chanyeol

2. He hits people when he laughs. 

Mostly it's poor Sehunnie who gets the most of it, but really - no one sitting next to him is spared.

Chanyeol later gave as good as he got in the same "interview'

3. Acting sexy comes naturally to him. 

This can be seen by how frequently he combs his fingers through his hair or how he repeatedly sticks his tongue out. I already mentioned The Smirk, didn't I?

His tongue doesn't sit in his mouth, for some reason

4. Despite the I'm-A-Bad-Boy attitude you get from the music videos - 

He gets easily embarrassed for no reason

.... and easily hurt, the big baby

5. Does it surprise you that he's great with kids?

Look at the proud papa

6. He probably got all that daddy training by raising three poodles. 

He loves dogs, you know.

Kai's the one doing the Lion King thing at the back

7. Let's talk about ships 

Having a dozen members in the band guarantees a lot of permutations as ships. However the most famously shipped Kai-starring ship is - 

KAISOOOOOOOOOO

 A popular KaiSoo meme

Kaisoo is real, people.

Seriously. Thank you Tumblr for this gif.

Poor D.O. Can't move a muscle. I'd probably puke though if Kai was standing that close.

This post took a lot more time to put together than it should have because the wifi was having mood swings and because Photoshop ate my RAM. Also, my sincere apologies to all those with slow internet because BOY you're missing out on a lot of awesome gifs.

ANNYEONG!!!

LISTING AWAY: From Page to Screen

Here. I am offering up this beautifully long post in the hopes that it will compensate appropriately for the morbid lack of activity in this space. Believe me, it was not intentional. And for some reason, this list took longer than I’d imagined and I ended up falling asleep on the keyboard and jerked awake in the wee hours of morning with half the letters imprinted on my face.

I hope you find the punishment the bloggerverse conspired to inflict upon me, suitable for my grievous crimes.

Adaptations that broke my heart because they were the consummate apotheosis of their literary parent

1. The Help
2. The Secret Life Of Bees
3. The Book Thief
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
5. The Boy in Striped Pajamas
6. The Perks of Being A Wallflower
7. To Kill A Mockingbird
8. The Outsiders
9. The Hunger Games
10. The Lord of the Rings (I’m not so hot about The Hobbit trilogy, though)
11. The Kite Runner

 Adaptations that surprisingly surpassed their literary parent

1. The Princess Diaries
2. P.S. I Love You (The book’s still a DNF)
3. The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants
4. A Walk To Remember
5. The Time-Traveller’s Wife (I despised the book)
6. Stardust

 Adaptations that made me add the literary parent to my TBR pile

1. Everything is Illuminated (Lord, I need to read this real quick.)
2. Les Miserables (GOD, yes)
3. Memoirs of a Geisha (Why, why haven’t I still read it?)
4. A Series Of Unfortunate Events
5. True Grit
6. The Maze Runner
7. War Horse
8. Bend it like Beckham

 Adaptations that made their literary parent proud

1. Warm Bodies
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (only #1 and #2 - Let’s face it, Dog Days sucked)
3. Harry Potter (#1 - #3)
4. I Am Number Four
5. The Golden Compass
6. Speak
7. If I Stay
8. Gone Girl
9. Ender’s Game
10. My Sister’s Keeper (There’s that thing with alternative ending though)
11. Pride and Prejudice (UK version, 2005)
12. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
13. Divergent
14. Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (well, sort of – I’m kinda partial to Magnus Bane)
15. Life Of Pi
16. One Day
17. The Da Vinci Code
18. Angels and Demons

 Adaptations that I am literally dying to see but haven’t already

1. Looking For Alibrandi (please god please)
2. Pride and Prejudice (BBC version)
3. Insurgent
4. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (and the reason why I haven’t seen it yet is probably because it’s R-rated and banned, but I’ve heard rave reviews)
5. Never Let Me Go
6. The Scarlet Letter (1934)
7. Gone with the Wind (maybe I should read the book first?)
8. Paper Towns
9. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
10. Notes on a Scandal
11. The Namesake
12. Jane Eyre

 Adaptations that make me want to fling it on the screen playwright’s/director’s face

1. Will whoever wrote the screenplay and directed the Percy Jackson movies please stand up?
2. Harry Potter (#4 through #8 – I have some unresolved screenplay issues)
3. The Host
4. Eragon
5. The Fault in our Stars (sorry, not sorry – but they slathered cheese all over it)
6. Dear John (For some reason, I was mostly insulted by how much I didn’t like the movie – even though with the Tatum/Seyfried pair I should have, by all rights)

If you think I have missed a book or two, or classified a book/movie under an undeserving list, please do let me know. And do recommend! Most probably, I would be labouring under the delusion that my favourite book still hasn’t been turned into a movie yet and if that’s the case, I demand to know ASAP.

20 Things You May Not Know About Me

Once upon a time, in a pretty large town called Buttlazyville, a babe was born. Before long she was elected Mayor of Buttlazyville. The Mayor happens to be yours truly. The End.

There happens to be a reason for the above anecdote. Skylar @ Life Of A Random tagged me sometime in December LAST YEAR, and it took five months and an Easter weekend to finally inspire me to make a move and bring forth this post unto you, Bloggerverse.

1. How tall are you?

I am a 157cm (approx. 5’2”) high pile of awesomeness. Yes, I know that translates to “short” and if you read this post, you’ll know exactly how I’m dealing with that irrefutable fact.

2. Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?

There’s something you should know about me. Any and all talents I possess are guaranteed to be known to all mankind (or I make sure of that). And when I say ALL MANKIND I mean people in my Freemasons circle (like I care about the opinion of anyone else). Ooh there’s Talent #1: Dramatic Exaggeration In The Name Of Poetic License. You should read my Twitter (or not).

What else? I can waggle my ears and wiggle my brows. I can say the Periodic Table up to 20 elements in my sleep. I can also tell untrue stories pretty convincingly – the few times I’ve tried to con people, BOY did they fall. (But I also happen to be pretty gullible, so I think it’s safe to say the last one comes at a price.)

3. What is your biggest blog-related pet peeve?

The right to answer this question would demand the prerequisite that you visit other blogs besides your own. I don’t. And that’s not because I have a bigger head than my butt, but because my college ensures I don’t moonlight my way out of the academic shit-pile they’ve dumped on us.

(But if you still want to hear it, I’ll repeat Skylar’s answer – it truly annoys me when people don’t reply to comments. Then again, I have as many followers as there are roses in the Sahara, so I may not understand the logistics of commenting on blogs with legions of followers.)

4. What's your biggest non-blog-related pet peeve?

People judging others. People judging me. Me judging everyone else.

5. What is your favorite song?

I do have a favourite song, but it’s kind of personal so I’ll just go with a small list instead (since I can’t pick one) that’s on loop in my head these days –

Antarctica – Hands Like Houses

Love Me Like You Do – Ellie Goulding (No, I haven’t seen the movie, I just like this lady a lot)

Elastic Heart – Sia

Runaway – Aurora

Beg For It – Iggy Azalea

No Good In Goodbye – The Script

Dark Side – Kelly Clarkson

Good Life – One Republic

…. And the entire OST album from the Korean series The Heirs

6. What is your favorite Etsy shop that isn't yours?

7. What is your favorite way to spend free time when you're not alone?

Movie nights, TV marathons, and Youtube. There, that’s time well spent.

8. What is your favorite junk food?

Oily, MSG-containing potato chips, spicy tapioca chips, jackfruit chips, ghatia – they all work. Fortunately for my heath, the above gif holds good for this question as well and I’m a bigger miser than an eater, which is why I’m still alive and healthy and not at risk of entering the Guinness Book of Records for heaviest person ever.

9. Do you have a pet or pets? If so, what kind, and what are their names?

Oh. You meant non-fictional pets? I have a fish tank in which the population is declining rapidly despite mine and my dad's best efforts. And some potted plants. The End.

10. What are your number one favorite nonfiction and fiction books?

SHUT. UP.

11. What is your favorite beauty product?

My Kajal-stick. That’s because the only cosmetically salvageable physical feature is my eyes and also because I look like I have jaundice (or something) without kohl underlining my eyes.

12. When were you last embarrassed? What happened?

You know, if I actually did keep a list of all the embarrassing things I’ve done – that are known and unknown to me – it could wrap around the earth’s middle THRICE. I’m sadly not even exaggerating.

Fortunately for me, I’m pretty good at supressing bad memories. And fortunately for all ye that seek companionship in misery, if you’re willing to ignore the whole  Most Recent Embarrassment clause, I’ll regale you with an incident that I’ve made my peace with. (Meaning, I no longer feel the irrational need to bury myself alive ten feet underground).

I am undeniably, unequivocally clumsy. It’s like my feet have a mind of their own. So, for most of the time my feet are in contact with the ground, I have subconsciously reserved a portion of my busy brain to JUST CONCENTRATE ON MY LEGWORK. But, obviously Mr. Murphy wasn’t too happy that his law was being ineffective in my life. And, there I was in class one day, bending over to pick up my bag from the bench. I successfully picked it up, and threw it over my shoulders. I may have misjudged its weight and my shoulders weren’t ready to deal with it and somehow my feet tripped on the legs of the bench and suddenly I was falling backwards.

Now this is the craziest part. A sane person would grab on anything and try to pull herself upright before she actually landed on her ass. Not me. There was a bench right behind me so I thought I’ll just fall onto it and try not to look like I’d tripped but that I I’d purposefully sat on it. What I did not realize was that there was a guy already sitting on it.

And then there was this deafening silence while I leaped up from the poor boy’s lap and apologized profusely. He still hadn’t regained his power of speech when I ran from the classroom that had erupted in laughter and catcalls.

13. If you could only drink one beverage (besides water) what would it be?

Coffee, please. I have zero shame in admitting I’m a caffeine-addict.

14. What's your favorite movie?

15. What were you in high school: prom queen, nerd, cheerleader, jock, valedictorian, band geek, loner, artist, prep?

Not applicable to me – I didn’t study in the sort of high school Hollywood propagates. For the sake of, I’ll say nerd. But not a member of the nerd group that wears thick rimmed glasses and lugs around tomes of extra reading material, but the kind that sits around fangirling, pulling pranks on each other and then inexplicably acing through exams. Teachers love us, cheergirls hi-five us, and everyone acknowledges that we’re crazy and smart and aliens undercover.

16. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

Please. PLEASE TAKE ME TO HOGWARTS. I’M BEGGING YOU.

17. PC or Mac?
Pfft. Utility over fashion statements. PCs over Macs.

18. Last romantic gesture from a crush, date, boy/girlfriend, spouse?

I’m sorry, could you please hold while I refer my secret diary? Hang on – oops, sorry – But Dear Diary informs me I’ve got NON-EXISTENT ROMANTIC HISTORY so that’s that and let’s move on already, alright?

19. Favorite celebrity?

I have a thing for actresses who kick wizard asses, tribute asses and Erudite asses in reel life and regular asses in real life. Read Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence and Shailene Woodley. And David Archuleta (that’s another story for another time, folks).

20. What blogger friends do you secretly want to be best friends with?

Hey, this is unfair, alright? First off, there aren’t all that many blogs that I keep track of and the ones I do, we’re already virtual BFFs. And there are others with wonderfully weird, crazily stupid, and bookishly obsessed bloggers that I do want to be besties with, but alas. My academic life ensures I don’t have time for socializing over the internet.

Phew. It's done. OMG THIS POST IS FINALLY DONE. Skylar, you awesome thing, thank you for tagging me and sorry for the delay. And all you amazing people out there - THERE IS NO SHAME IN TAGGING YOURSELF. Go on, do it, and open yourself up a little more.

 I dare you.

Another Blogging Miracle: Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

If I could make a list of things I want to painfully kill, #1 would go to COLLEGE. I have exams next week and I started getting buried under workload three weeks earlier. Which is how I am not getting any reviewing done and doing this acceptance post more than a week later. Morrighan @ Elysian Fields nominated me and I feel HONOURED, Morrighan, THANK YOU.

 I am also enclosing a virtual pizza with SORRY M&Ms and a hug. :)

Rules:

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you, and link back to their blog in your post.
2. Post the award's logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten question asked by the nominator.
4. Nominate ten bloggers for the award.
5. Ask your nominees ten questions.

Morrighan asked me:

What is your favorite book ever? I know, this is a tough one!

This cat understands my angst

This is not called “tough”. PE is tough. Calculus is tough. Doing laundry is tough. Trying to decide whether you want that appetising chef’s choice or whether you want to play safe with your regular is tough. Coming up with the right name for your kid is tough. Thinking of a possible plot arc for a book idea you have is tough. Naming my favourite book isn’t tough, it’s against my principle of being. :P

So I am going to both answer and not answer your question, taking a leaf out of Schrodinger’s book. Books I keep recommending to people right and left are:

To Kill the Mockingbird

Harry Potter (Books 1 through 7)

The Book Thief

The Help

 Jellicoe Road

Sold

The Mediator series

The Hunger Games series

Most books by Jodi Picoult

….. are some off the top of my head

What book are you most anticipating reading?

The Young Elites by Marie Lu. After Hunger Games there was a parade of dystopian fiction,, out of which I liked Legend best (even though Champion wasn’t my favourite way to end the series.) I also read a sneak preview of TYE and had blue balls at the end of Chapter1.

I was also psyched to read The Blood of Olympus but my book buddy advised me against reading it lest I become suicidal and leave a note saying it’s because Rick Riordan messed up the series.

What is your favorite genre? Least favorite? Why?

Currently, my favourite is realistic YA and social drama. And anything with a lyrical prose.

Least favourite – anything that features instalove/ less plot – more kissing-more sexual tension-more 18+ scenes/ average chick-lit/bad narration/depthless characters/regular dystopian

What female character do you most relate with?

Uh. Um. Wait. It’s going to come to me any minute. Wait, I think… Nope, nothing.

I know. I just had an epiphany myself. I am now going to proceed with the blame game. It’s not my fault. Not actively. Books that I like to read are generally depressing (as verified by my book buddy) which feature heroines that have low self-esteem/suicidal/had a best friend who committed suicide/rape victims/apartheid victims … you get the idea. Or they are they are the smart, sword/gun – wielding, mouthy, snarky, beautiful, AMAZING girls that I insanely wish I could be. There is also this unfortunate issue of lack of diversity in books to boot.

But in class when my mind stopped understanding Power Electronics, I suddenly thought of Cath in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. After all, we practise the same profession, don’t we?

So maybe I blog instead of writing famous fanfiction. Same diff. We are both introverts, shy around strangers, and swoon over anything bookish.

What male character would you most like to spend the day with?

This is almost as hard as Question #1. Aside from book boyfriends (with who I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my sorry life), I guess it would be Magnus Bane (although he is a book boyfriend – the gay one so even fictionally out of bounds). He would show me the right way to use body glitter, take me shopping, introduce me to other Downworlders, Chairman Meow, make my sides hurt from laughing too much, make me eat stuff I wouldn’t otherwise eat, … I could go on.

A day with Magnus Bane is a day well spent.

What is your least favorite book you've ever had to review?

Whisper – Stacey R. Campbell It wasn’t my type.

One of your favorite books that you feel deserves more attention and praise?

Tell the Wolves I’m Home. The words breathe life into the characters and you just ….

And the title is Just. So. Inspiring. I started off by hating it, and at the end, I was a different person. I keep shoving this book in people’s faces and they’re like (I’ve never heard of it.)

The most over hyped book you have read this year is..?

(Sorry everyone.) Throne of Glass. Hands down.

If you could live in one mythical world from a book, which would it be and why?

The JKR version of the wizarding world. Why?

HOGWARTS. ZONKO’S. DIAGON ALLEY. HOGSMEADE. RON’S PLACE. LUNA’S SHOE. SHRIEKING SHACK. HOGWARTS. HOGWARTS. HOGWARTS.

How many books do you physically own, either ebook or physical?

I just have two paperbacks with me at the moment. Before you collapse with disgust, it’s because my actual shelf is at home (in another country) and here pages curl with humidity so I keep transporting them home. So, I don’t know the exact number of physical books I have.

My virtual shelf contains over 300 (of which I’ve read only about 200 BUT I HAVE NO SHAME I STILL KEEP ADDING TO IT). That ok, good, bad, or ugly?

And I ask my nominees:

1. Which author is guaranteed to not let you down with his/her latest release?
2. Who is your favourite badass heroine?
3. Name a book or poem you had to read for school that you actively hated?
4. What is the naughtiest thing you’ve ever done?
5. Which poem reaches down inside you and leaves you breathless every single time you read it? (You can skip this question if it’s too personal.)
6. What subject do you think hasn’t been explored much in YA literature?
7. What is your favourite bookish game to play when fans of the same book get together?
8. Have you written to (or tweeted) any writer asking what happens with the characters in a book? (Especially those books that are left free to reader’s interpretation) Did you get an answer?
9. What is the weirdest food combination you like that the general public think is disgusting?
10. If you could RJ for an FM for 30 minutes, what would be your playlist?

Like I mentioned before, I am drowning in assignments and unopened textbooks so I really don't have the time (or energy) to comment on blogs (there are people I want to pass this on to). SO NOMINATE YOURSELF. You are brilliant and awesome and inspiring and the bloggerverse welcomes you. Just comment below and we'll fight over fandoms and keep tagging each other.

Not A Review: Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

(Blurb from Goodreads) Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming,beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

WARNING: ALL CAPS OVERLOAD

This book (or the entire series tbh) features the exact sort of cover and the exact sort of title that I wouldn’t even dare disturb from its spot on the shelf in a bookstore. But then #IslaWasComing and the bloggerverse erupted and I’m like what the hell I’ll read it.

Oh boy. My head is in shreds.

This book made my girly hormones and my critic brain BATTLE IT OUT. I MEAN SERIOUSLY. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW I COULD GIGGLE PUBLICLY. AT A BOOK CALLED ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS.

(Lame Joke: “Hey what’s the title of Book 2?”

                     “Oh, I don’t know, Anna and the Second Base, probably. Lol”

No, you are not obligated to laugh.)

But that’s not even the crucial point. The reasons for me to hate this book were numerous. But I still finished it within a day (I read it in class, tucked between the pages of Microprocessors and Interfacing – I can’t believe I did all that). I kept giggling and people kept  getting pissed off.

My hormones LOVED it. My brain HATES myself for liking this book.

Hang on, Sheldon, I'm explaining.

For starters, I HATED EVERYBODY.

I HATE ANNA because she’s an ignorant “wannabe film critic” who didn’t know France loves the cinema (I mean, hasn’t she heard of the Cannes Film Festival?).  She also keeps obsessing about this PURRFECT guy who already has a girlfriend. HIS HAIR. HIS LIPS. HIS GODDAMN WHOLE ANATOMY.  She also doesn’t realize that she’s so pretty enough to give a boner to any guy who walks into the room. And there are other “flaws” that are designed to make her character realistic except that it kept irritating the shit out of me (whenever I wasn’t giggling at her idiocites, that is – YES I HAPPEN TO BE A HYPOCRITE TA DA).

I HATE ETIENNE ST. CLAIR because –

“I cheated on her every day. In my mind, I thought of you in ways I shouldn’t have, again and again.”

If Ellie (the cheatee) were to make a book of her own, Anna would be the villain.

He also lacks a backbone. Ellie was his “just in case”. Or was it the other way round?

Oh, and by the way his “flaw” is that he is short.  Other than that, he’s PURRFECT.

I HATED THEIR FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY SHOULD HAVE MADE THEM SEE THE LIGHT.

But I have thought about this long and hard. So long, so hard. I have finally reached the conclusion that the reason why I read this book so enthusiastically despite my head screaming at me to not do it, is because Stephanie Perkins has some illusionistic capability to hoodwink people like me with her writing. 

VERDICT:

Brain: 1 star.

Hormones: 5 stars!

Me: God help me – 3 Stars