Sexy Tattoo Girl

Good Tattoos aren’t cheap and cheap tattoos aren’t good. 

Getting a tattoo is a sign of independence and many tattooed women are proud to show their independence by sharing their tattoos with the world. You should get your tattoo design from only the Amazing Tattoo Girl. Spark your imagination and start creating an amazing tattoo art piece for yourself with thousands of high-quality designs to download.

Girls can look really sexy with just the right tattoo on their ankle. Tattoos can be flirty and feminine, or tough and enticing. With the right design and placement, a tattoo can change your whole look to make you appear more exotic and beautiful. But not just any ankle tattoo is a good choice.

Here are our recommendations.

 

 

This lovely brunette´s name is Sella Heartbreaker and I´m sure she could perfectly honor her name and break my heart in to a million little pieces with that perfect tattoo she´s got. 

This is perhaps a tribute to her single of the same title, which unfortunately didn’t become as popular as she hoped it to be. And here I am thinking she had more trashy taste in tattoos. I say this is a classy choice.

When one first thinks of the famous burlesque dancer, Eve Scarllet, tattoos don't necessarily come to mind. But Eve has a little secret. She has one tattoo and it is very noticeable and out in the open. Almost no one until now knew it was a tattoo. Thank goodness for the tattoo artist she spoke to because he talked her out of that regretful tattoo and suggested she get something a little more timeless and elegant.

Eve's beauty mark tattoo is not the only tattoo she thought about getting when she was younger.

Girls not only want to have fun with their tattoos, they also used them to express themselves. A hibiscus flower on the shoulder blade perhaps, a cherry blossom tattoo on the foot or a cute butterfly on the hip; whatever art she chooses, it can definitely add to her trendy and sexy persona.

MORE SEXY PICTURE TO BE THE KING ART OF TATTOO GIRL :

These are just some of the tattoo designs that would still look beautiful and interesting even if they are tattooed on a miniature scale. They are best when inked on small areas of the body such as foot, ankle, wrist, upper back, and even lower back and shoulder blade.

What I did over my Christmas break

I have a five-day weekend and what do I do? I get sick. It was not fun.

For my entire Christmas holiday, I was stuck in the house not really wanting to eat anything and drinking more tea than is probably healthy (is that possible?). The time not spent drinking tea, coughing, sneezing and trying to clear my nose, I spent reading the Mark Reads Harry Potter blog.

I am no longer so obsessed with Harry Potter as I once was, though I do admit, I still can’t seem to avoid rereading at least one of the books every once in a while, though perhaps not cover to cover. Still, I no longer feel like someone’s personally offended me when they say Harry and Hermione are in love (though I do wish Steve Kloves never wrote that dancing scene in Deathly Hallows, Part 1) and I have given up trying to analyse Percy's betrayal or prove to anyone that Ron and Hermione, Ginny and Harry are OTPs.

Unlike when I first started reading Harry Potter back in grade 7, when it was still a relative novelty, right now, the entire pop culture is just so drenched in Harry Potter things, that it’s no longer bizarre to see people walking around in long black robes or wearing Gryffindor scarves. They sell t-shirts like this online and you can wear it around and no one would blink or even comment. “Muggle” is now an official word in the Oxford Dictionary and you have the so-called music genre of wizard rock. Sometimes, when you are so used to the fact that you can now go to the Harry Potter theme park to drink butterbeer that it becomes rather hard to imagine someone who doesn’t have any idea of what a butterbeer is. (Frankly the first time I saw the name of this drink, it grossed me out a bit). It’s kind of like you’re so immersed in the wizarding world that it’s become strange to be confronted with the ignorance of Muggles.

Yet precisely because all of this, it becomes such an enlightening and liberating experience when you read about someone else who is experience all this magic for the very first time.

Mark blogged about his experience reading the Harry Potter series, starting back in May and he had now finished the seven-book series. The point of interest is that, of course, he had very limited exposure to the series before diving into it. He knows so little about the HP when he first started that he wonders whether to be offended by the word “Muggle” and whether it’s meant to be racist. He looks at the cover of the American edition of Sorcerer’s Stone and calls the Snitch an “egg with wings”. As one of his commentors said, he is literally Harry, walking into this entirely new world and blogging about it.

It’s very amusing to read his reviews of the first few chapters of Sorcerer’s Stone but it also just makes me marvel at JKR once more at how much foreshadowing, subtext and clues she’s littering throughout the whole of the exposition of the first book. There are things that are never revealed until Book 7. Really, she was’t kidding when she said she was planning all seven books in tandem with writing the first.

I have to admit, the fact that I actually read the first half of the series backward (in the following order: Book 4 then 3 then 2 then 1), when I actually read Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time, I was spoiled for a lot of the little clues that JKR was giving. So it’s an entirely new experience for me to read about jumping into the first chapter of Sorcerer’s Stone with no prior information whatsoever. This and the fact that I have now read the entire series also makes me rather torn between amusement and almost annoyance at how Mark seems rather dismissive of things like owls, shooting stars, animagus, Hagrid, and thinks Harry being an orphan is simply a plot device. The entire review of the first chapter is a massive case of famous last words. Very funny, and borderline annoying. 

Then again, I suppose I do have to excuse Mark’s harsher reviews at the beginning, seeing as he came to reading HP after reading and blogging Twilight. After the shallow puddle that is Twilight, it must be pretty mindblowing to switch to the depth of Harry’s world, where nothing is as it seems and *gasp* rules of magic don’t contradict themslves to suit to plot! It’s so easy on the first read to dismiss the Brazilian boa constrictor episode as just pointless children’s fantasy, but oh, what a massive, as JKR would say, anvil-sized foreshadowing hint that was!

I was initially turned off by the very frequent swearing, but had to get over that, because reading this blog is like reading Harry Potter for the first time all over again, but better, because as I said, I came into the HP series backward. I was spoiled for a lot of things. Even with books 5 and 6  I was spoiled for a lot of things. I think the only book I wasn’t spoiled for was book 7 and that was because it was the only book to be released in Vietnam at the same time as in the UK and USA. But for Mark, this an entire new world, an entire new language. We forget that we have been learning the language over the course of the series being released, but Mark is being hit over the head left and right with words that in the beginning, mean nothing to him - Quiditch, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Muggles...

It’s great, because despite his initial reservations, Mark totally falls in love with the series as it goes on, and still points out the stylish flaws along the way, which when I was reading it, I was probably too caught up to notice. It becomes rather obvious when you look back at it that the books have a rather formulaic structure. It starts with Harry at the Dursley’s, being miserable and then inevitably ends with rather big infodump chapter(s) with lots of talking and tying up of loose ends.

I have to admit that I love this blog even more because Mark has such similar reactions to me on certain things. He loves Lupin too! I can’t describe how much I love Remus Lupin throughout the entire HP series, how disappointed I was that he wasn’t given as much exposure as I wanted and how distraught I was when JKR killed him. I didn’t cry when either Sirius or Dumbledore died, but I really was tearing up when Lupin died. I would have been bawling if I wasn’t on an airplane at the time. Not to mention, Mark ships R/Hr and H/G!!! He appreciates just how awesome Ginny really is! There are few people I know in real life who appreciates Ginny, not only because her character is absolutely assissinated by Kloves in the movies (I have a rather huge grudge against Steve Kloves that I won't go into), so it’s always good to be assured that I’m not the only one on Team Ginnx. Not, of course, that I know Mark in real life or ever will.

Well, I think it’s time for me to stop gushing about Mark and his incredible blog. Just go read it.

Matilda

My boss has taken a month-long vacation and returned to Australia for Christmas, and we're closing the office for Christmas until Thursday, so after the rather hellish November and first fortnight of December, the week just gone felt disturbingly free.

Yesterday (earlier today?) I showed up at work an hour late and found the office practically deserted with just the receptionist already at work. Not long after I arrived she handed the phone to me and promptly disappeared for an hour. I wasted the next two hours by answering three work-related emails and then facebook, forums, fanfiction, looking up random stuff on wikipedia, games etc. People started to trickle in around ten-ish.

We all left for a "Christmas" lunch of hotpot together at about eleven, an hour earlier than usual and basically by the time we returned to the office it was...2:30. By about 3:30 practically everyone was gone again. I had to hang around until about five for my ride home, but by four I was sufficiently bored enough to give up on sitting around and decided to go shopping.

My office is pretty near the Old Quarter of Hanoi and among other things, there's a street full of DVD shops, and though I knew it was improbable that they would have a decent quality version already, I went in to check whether they have the DVD of Deathly Hallows Part 1 yet. I would need it to refresh my memory later when Part 2 comes out.

Anyway, as I was rummaging through the selection of DVDs, I suddenly came across a copy of the movie Matilda, based on the same book by Roald Dalh, of course. It was probably the first book that I read in English and I was obsessed with the movie when I was in fourth grade. As I was looking at it and considering whether I should by it for sentimentality's sake, something incredible dawned on me:

Matilda Wormwood is a witch!!

When she's eleven, she will receive a letter from Hogwarts!!

She's a Ravenclaw!

The Wormwoods are related to the Dursleys!!

...

Her best friend is even named Lavender freaking Brown! Though granted, it is rather hard to imagine that Lavender Brown as the one snogging Ron in HBP.

If I get sufficiently bored in my five-day weekend, a crossover fanfiction will be written. (Though I am feeling somewhat terrified about stepping suddenly into the world of HP fanfic again...)

Dear Miss Wormwood,


I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. 


...


Yours sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

Oh, Dawn Treader, I had such great expectations for you....

I have just come back from watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (if this wasn't a fairly well-known franchise and a famous book series, it would never make it out of the studio with such a long name!) and found myself deeply annoyed, particularly at the character assassination of Edmund.

I suppose, by now I should be quite used to character assassination by movie makers. To name a few, Yong Qi in Tian Shang Ren Jian, Hermione and Ron in...well, all the Harry Potter movies except the first two, and of course, Peter Pevensie in Prince Caspian have all irked me over the years.

But Edmund! After his brief but awesome bouts of amazingness in Prince Caspian, how could they have destroyed "It's King, actually" Edmund in such an absurdly stupid way?!

Perhaps I should back track a bit, and start with the case of stupid Peter, so to speak, in the Prince Caspian movie. In Prince Caspian, the book, Peter and Edmund Pevensie come back to Narnia and learn they could no longer be kings, but have to put, instead, Caspian on the throne of Narnia. In the book, they do this with unfailing grace, and honestly, nothing really happens in Prince Caspian, the book, except the duel. Two third of the book is Trumpkin telling a story and then Peter and Miraz duel, then Aslan shows up and everything's great again.

So I understand why, for the sake having a plot, they have to have Peter being an arse in the movie. It also makes sense - to be going from High King to a boy again, to come back to your kingdom and find you have to put some guy you barely known and whose ancestor have invaded your country, on the throne - this is a tough thing to come to terms with. I get Peter's angst, really, I do, and I can excuse it, even if I didn't enjoy watching stupid Peter. The situation Peter finds himself in in PC also demonstrates, on a more macro level, everything that his siblings are also going through because they are, after all, in the same boat.

Some just deal with it better than others.

Some, being Edmund. At least, such was the case in PC.

I find the contrast between Edmund and Peter's journey of being kings-but-not-really-kings and accepting it in PC as much a tool to demonstrate Peter's growth as much as that of Edmund. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, of course, Edmund dreams of being made king and lording it over Peter. Yet in Prince Caspian, Edmund acts much more mature than Peter about the prospect of putting Caspian on the throne. He accepts that they must be in England now and that their job this time is to put Caspian on the throne, not to rule it themselves.

I like to think that Edmund supports Peter and gets into fights for Peter despite Peter being an arse to him is because during the course of their ruling Narnia in LWW, he had taken on that role of supporting his brother and it becomes natural to him. I like to think that the reason Edmund speaks so little in PC and doesn't speak up against Peter's idiocy or criticise him is that he doesn't want to do it in front of Caspian and diminish Peter's authority as High King in front of Caspian. But of course, when it becomes too much, such as Peter's great moment of failure in front of the White Witch, Edmund does have to come in and save the day, and vents his feelings.

The point, regardless, is that between LWW and PC, Edmund had come to accept his role by Peter's side, and accept that they can rule together, not him over Peter, and that he had earned his place as a king of Narnia, to be assured of it enough that he does not feel threatened by the prospect of putting Caspian on the throne.

So, why is he throwing a hissy fit about it in Dawn Treader?

What annoyed me most in Dawn Treader was the way the movie treated the Goldwater Island issue. The Dawn Treader book was mostly from Lucy and Eustace's points of view, and Edmund doesn't have much involvement until that moment on Goldwater. Caspian sees the island with water that has ability to turn things into gold and gets greedy, but it is Edmund who rebukes him.

This is how I read that scene: When Caspian forbids them to mention the island to anyone, Edmund snaps that he wasn't a subject of Caspian. He did this, not because he was being a prideful arse, but to remind Caspian of who he really is, and of his experience - he ruled Narnia for 15 years, Caspian only had 3 years at it. Caspian was, after all, at that moment, making a fool of himself for greed and probably would get lost in the greed. Edmund understands, from experience, the danger of temptations and he was pulling Caspian out of it. For me, that was a moment of Edmund imparting wisdom to Caspian, not a stupid boyish fight as Lewis would make it out to be.

What happens in the movie? They turn it completely around and the one whose eyes suddenly glint with greed is Edmund! I can't describe how angry that makes me. The character had suddenly gone backwards! All that development, all that growth accumulated over two movies, suddenly just gone, and he's back being a brat again. What makes it even more grating is that he's acting so Peter-esque that it's pointless.

The line of dialogue that just made me want to cry was "I want my own kingdom," not merely for the backward development of character. It is the fact that Aslan allows Edmund to say this and it is never mentioned again as a really stupid and just un-Edmund-ish thing to say. What did Edmund think Aslan gave him then, a paper model of a kingdom?

In that entire struggle of Caspian-is-now-king-not-Edmund in Dawn Treader, the vibe I got was that Caspian was the bigger man here, he knows that Edmund is being a brat but he's generously overlooking it. I thought the whole exchange between Drinian, Edmund and Caspian on the chain of command was forced, and while Edmund looked disgruntled, Caspian looked condescending and didn't even bother to stick up to Edmund as would have been courteous.  Caspian's silence quite obviously declares that he thought Drinian was right to put Edmund in his place.

The whole situation of Caspian being the 'better man' so contradictory with Caspian's supposed struggle in Dawn Treader with his validity as a king. In fact, Goldwater as Lewis wrote it and as I interpreted it in the book would be a lot more demonstrative of a Caspian struggling to believe himself as king and seeking to prove it. As they insist on digging up the White Witch again, that alone should have suffice as Edmund's struggle. The memory alone should be enough; he had learnt his lessons, but the memories still haunt him.

Some plot points that bothered me or  just didn't make sense:

• White Witch was so obviously set up to be the Lady of the Green Kirtle - the green mist seemed a bit overkilled. We didn't need to be beat over the head with it. Also, it was confusing whether the mist was Jadis the White Witch, or she was just sort of Edmund's Dementor image slash Boggart and therefore a figment of his imagination and would not be there for anyone else. 
• What on earth was with that moment of Jadis' outrage at the death of the sea serpent slash Nagini Horcrux? Speaking of which, the swords sound a lot like Horcruxes in terms of symbolism. 
• Jill Pole mention is also a slap in the face obvious sort of foreshadowing.
• Gale was a completely pointless character. I have no idea what the point of her is and why they can hire a little girl (who would then require tutors and whatnot) and not be able to hire an actor to play Ramandu.
• Ramandu's Island contains no actual Ramandu and we don't even get to know who freaking Ramandu is!
• The seven swords are swords that Aslan gave people in the Golden Age to protect Narnia, and yet Edmund and Lucy who ruled Narnia in the Golden Age have no clue what the swords are. The dialogue was stupidity itself. "That's an old Narnian sword," Edmund says - old to him, meaning the sword was around before his reign as king. Then Bern contradicts this with: "These are swords from your Golden Age." Lucy and Edmund look on blankly as Bern continue to info dump the fact that Aslan gave to ...someone to protect Narnia. Bern is the guy who lives 1300 years after the Golden Age, in an era that seeks to destroy all evidence that a Narnian Golden Age existed, and he yet knows all this. Gargh!!
• How did the swords even come into the hands of Telmarines? Why would the Telmarines even WANT Narnian swords? And why are the swords so bloody easy to find and get?
• How does Edmund recognise the knife on Aslan's table? He wasn't there when Aslan died! Also, Aslan died for Edmund, and yet Edmund points out the sacred objects of the knife that killed Aslan and the table on which he was killed with such...casualness? Do the scriptwriter recognise the significance of the knife, or did they just throw it in there because it just happened to be lying there in the book?
• Edmund's torch has some awesome battery life.
• No one compares to Susan for Caspian, of course, until another beautiful girl aka Liliandil comes along. I can't  believe they have Caspian pining after Susan for three years and Lucy actually flirting with Caspian while he was declaring this. Sigh.
• I love Carrie Underwood, but after Regina Spektor's The Call as the theme song for PC, Carrie's song for Dawn Treader just felt contrived and didn't fit. It just felt like one of those generic Disney songs that just stick nice sounding words together with a supposed message but it's so lukewarm that you can't feel it.
• Oh and, Edmund and Lucy, HIGH KING AND QUEEN of Narnia?! Did the scriptwriter even READ the Chronicle? There is ONE High King - Peter and NO freaking High Queen. @%$Q#$! I cringed so badly at this line. 
• "Lucy, what have you done?" I somehow got the sense that this was setting up Susan's forgetting Narnia and somehow it was supposed to be Lucy's fault!  
• Certainly parts of the film is strangely promoting a more-than-friendship relationship between Caspian and Edmund. If you get my drift. The most obvious was the one where they lay side by side looking at stars and having a heart-to-heart. That just...freaked me out.  
•  The appearance of Aslan as the albatross was just...pointless. If I hadn't read the book and wasn't expecting the albatross and knew what it was supposed to be, I would have thought what was that weird bird doing flying around? Also, the albatross was supposed to guide them out of the Dark Island, and it didn't do that in the movie! I'm not even sure what the point of the albatross in the movie was, expect maybe to appease fans with the fact that they included it.

In the acting department, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley both disappointed me a bit in this movie. Their acting no longer feel as natural as it was in LWW and PC. Of the Pevensies, Will Molseley and Anna Popplewell I thought was ok, but I absolutely loved Skandar and Georgie in the last two movies, especially Skandar in PC, even if he had so little chance to shine, he owned every moment that he got. Somehow, in Dawn Treader, however, there were moments when it was really forced, for both of them, Georgie more so. With Skandar, it merely felt like he was acting a character that suddenly was't his character anymore and didn't feel right to him. I suppose after awesome!Edmund in PC, going to this Edmund would be quite disconcerting.

I am amazed, however, how much Georgie looks like Anna. It was a genius bit of casting. Skandar, Anna and Georgie always looked like they could be related, but in this movie, Georgie and Anna at times look almost identical. The moment with the Book of Incantation, you can't really tell when Lucy ceased to be Lucy and turn into Susan.

Will Poulter as Eustace, I absolutely adored. He was perfect as Eustace, the opening sequence introducing Eustace was absolute gold, so perfect and I really missed human Eustace when he was as a dragon. I think Eustace really carried a lot of the film through its moments of just baffling script. I can't even tell that Will was several years older than his character when he plays this part. Eustace is supposed to be very young - 10 ish and Will was mid-teen (I think) when he played him.

The friendship/mentoring relationship between Eustace and Reepicheep was a nice touch and very moving at times.

The movie was so colourful though, and looked absolutely beautiful. I love the wide shots of the Dawn Treader sailing.

Lucy kicked ass in this movie! Finally they ceased with the infantilisation of Lucy! With PC, the scriptwriter seemed to forget or something that it was Susan the Gentle and Lucy the Valiant! (Too many exclamation marks :P)

The moment farewell, I guess it was at least good that they got the right dialogue in there. I think a lot of people would be afraid the movie makers would butcher that to keep the religious meanings well away to draw in a more variety of viewers. But it's kind of pointless to shy away from the religious overtones of Narnia - the entire Chronicle is a metaphor for Christianity at its various stages. Even Dawn Treader is a sort of pilgrimage. But overall, that moment just seemed rushed. It wasn't as moving as it was meant to be. Edmund just looked and sounded confused and couldn't wait to get out of there. Lucy...I don't know. I came out of that scene with a distinct feeling of "Meh, that's it?"

I suppose the overall verdict is that the movie was just...bland. The pacing was problematic. It was just bam, bam, bam, this happens, that happens, info dump, contrived temptations, find seven Horcruxes, problem solved, lukewarm farewell, done.

Still, I really hope they will continue making the rest of the Chronicle. I didn't enjoy Silver Chair that much, or Last Battle, but I would absolutely love to see The Horse and His Boy make it to the screen. They will definitely be able to get Skandar, Georgie and Anna (and probably would find a way to pull Will Molseley in too) for the parts. I certainly would love to see them as actual Kings and Queens.If they make Silver Chair next, I would watch it just for Will Poulter and hope they get someone decent to play Jill Pole.

A tiny candle in a dark, swirling world

November had just proved to be one of the most frustrating month at work, and December is not looking much better, even with the prospect of Christmas break and TOIL around the corner. Needless to say, Nanowrimo fell flat on its face, and I saw it coming, but was in denial for most of November, until around 30/11, I finally accepted that I wasn't going dish out another 20,000 words that day to make the 50k mark.

In general, this last month had been a writing fail month, since I planned to do a lot and ended up achieving very little.

Anyway, I guess all this rambling is to say, I was in creative hell this last month, and the weekly pep talks from Nanowrimo didn't do much to encourage me, except this gem from Lemony Snicket himself. I just wanted to tuck this away here so that I can find it later, because it certainly is made of gold.

Dear Cohort,

Struggling with your novel? Paralyzed by the fear that it's nowhere near good enough? Feeling caught in a trap of your own devising? You should probably give up.

For one thing, writing is a dying form. One reads of this every day. Every magazine and newspaper, every hardcover and paperback, every website and most walls near the freeway trumpet the news that nobody reads anymore, and everyone has read these statements and felt their powerful effects. The authors of all those articles and editorials, all those manifestos and essays, all those exclamations and eulogies - what would they say if they knew you were writing something? They would urge you, in bold-faced print, to stop.

Clearly, the future is moving us proudly and zippily away from the written word, so writing a novel is actually interfering with the natural progress of modern society. It is old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy, a relic of a time when people took artistic expression seriously and found solace in a good story told well. We are in the process of disentangling ourselves from that kind of peace of mind, so it is rude for you to hinder the world by insisting on adhering to the beloved paradigms of the past. It is like sitting in a gondola, listening to the water carry you across the water, while everyone else is zooming over you in jetpacks, belching smoke into the sky. Stop it, is what the jet-packers would say to you. Stop it this instant, you in that beautiful craft of intricately-carved wood that is giving you such a pleasant journey.

Besides, thdre are already plenty of novels. There is no need for a new one. One could devote one's entire life to reading the work of Henry James, for instance, and never touch another novel by any other author, and never be hungry for anything else, the way one could live on nothing but multivitamin tablets and pureed root vegetables and never find oneself craving wild mushroom soup or linguini with clam sauce or a plain roasted chicken with lemon-zested dandelion greens or strong black coffee or a perfectly ripe peach or chips and salsa or caramel ice cream on top of poppyseed cake or smoked salmon with capers or aged goat cheese or a gin gimlet or some other startling item sprung from the imagination of some unknown cook. In fact, think of the world of literature as an enormous meal, and your novel as some small piddling ingredient - the drawn butter, for example, served next to a large, boiled lobster. Who wants that? If it were brought to the table, surely most people would ask that it be removed post-haste.

Even if you insisted on finishing your novel, what for? Novels sit unpublished, or published but unsold, or sold but unread, or read but unreread, lonely on shelves and in drawers and under the legs of wobbly tables. They are like seashells on the beach. Not enough people marvel over them. They pick them up and put them down. Even your friends and associates will never appreciate your novel the way you want them to. In fact, there are likely just a handful of readers out in the world who are perfect for your book, who will take it to heart and feel its mighty ripples throughout their lives, and you will likely never meet them, at least under the proper circumstances. So who cares? Think of that secret favorite book of yours - not the one you tell people you like best, but that book so good that you refuse to share it with people because they'd never understand it. Perhaps it's not even a whole book, just a tiny portion that you'll never forget as long as you live. Nobody knows you feel this way about that tiny portion of literature, so what does it matter? The author of that small bright thing, that treasured whisper deep in your heart, never should have bothered.

Of course, it may well be that you are writing not for some perfect reader someplace, but for yourself, and that is the biggest folly of them all, because it will not work. You will not be happy all of the time. Unlike most things that most people make, your novel will not be perfect. It may well be considerably less than one-fourth perfect, and this will frustrate you and sadden you. This is why you should stop. Most people are not writing novels which is why there is so little frustration and sadness in the world, particularly as we zoom on past the novel in our smoky jet packs soon to be equipped with pureed food. The next time you find yourself in a group of people, stop and think to yourself, probably no one here is writing a novel. This is why everyone is so content, here at this bus stop or in line at the supermarket or standing around this baggage carousel or sitting around in this doctor's waiting room or in seventh grade or in Johannesburg. Give up your n ovel, and join the crowd. Think of all the things you could do with your time instead of participating in a noble and storied art form. There are things in your cupboards that likely need to be moved around.

In short, quit. Writing a novel is a tiny candle in a dark, swirling world. It brings light and warmth and hope to the lucky few who, against insufferable odds and despite a juggernaut of irritations, find themselves in the right place to hold it. Blow it out, so our eyes will not be drawn to its power. Extinguish it so we can get some sleep. I plan to quit writing novels myself, sometime in the next hundred years.

--Lemony Snicket

The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome

This was supposed to go into the author's note for the latest chapter of The Prince and Me but then it began to feel like it's going to get longer than the fic itself.  

The name of the chapter (The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome) is basically the summary of a Twilight fanfic that is currently on my favourite list (yes, I do have Twilight fics in my fav list, and often they are better than the books). That fic, called going nowhere, going somewhere by Estora revolves around an Edward who actually has a personality. This fic has very little to do with the chapter of my fic, but I liked the phrase hehe.

First of all, I have to say the chapter The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome is partly a result of my attempt at Nanowrimo this year (which I failed spectacularly, all efforts considered). Part of Nano includes a lot of procrastination time whereby I dig up all these character building quizzes. You now, quizzes that have you pretend to be your character and answer questions about each and every one of their likes and dislike. 

And so The 21st Century is Kind of Awesome is a sort of an exploration of some of Xiao Yan's (and to a certain extent, Yong Qi's) likes and dislikes, but then somehow goes into a sort of reflection of my own rather odd love affair with Zhao Wei. 

On the subject of some of Yong Qi's likes, in reality, Tottenham Hotspurs are not doing so badly in the Premier League as I imply in the chapter. Not that I actually follow Premier League football.

In case you did not recognise the movie that Xiao Yan and Yong Qi went to see in this chapter, it is, of course, A Time to Love, starring Zhao Wei and Lu Yi.

I just wanted to share the whole idea behind the scene where Xiao Yan and Yong Qi went to the hotpot restaurant, which on the surface seems like a pretty useless scene. Well, it is pretty useless, but it's 100% based on my experience at Hai Di Lao Hotpot. 

Bei Wa Lu is a real street in Beijing (at least, I think I remembered it right), where near there is a real Hai Di Lao Hotpot restaurant. I ate there when I was recently (read, a month ago) in Beijing and I swear, it was one of the best service experiences of my life, if not the best. In Vietnamese we have a saying, "The customer is the emperor" and boy, did I feel like an emperor there. 

My friend and I didn’t actually have to wait for a table when we went there, but there was a waiting area that looked pretty cool and I have heard you do actually get a manicure and a shoe shine as you wait. 

Regarding the bathroom of this restaurant, it might seem strange for me to gush about a bathroom. But I swear everything I described in that scene in the fic is true. Except that, unlike Xiao Yan, I couldn't ask a waiter for direction to the bathroom from my table (because I speak no Chinese), it took me several near wrong turns to get to the bathroom. Yes, there were signs but still it was like a maze. I nearly got lost getting back to the table, which of course has no sign to direct me. But the bathroom was pretty awesome, especially compared to normal Beijing public toilets, but I won't go into that. 

Of course, whether this restaurant existed in 2005 when The Prince and Me was set, I don't know and if it did, whether it looked like it does now in 2010 is debatable. And for all my awe about this restaurant, I was disappointed when I got home and realised I had taken no photo of it. I think my friend and I were too busy eating. 

By the way, while I'm on the topic of my trip to Beijing, I have to say I did pass Gong Zhu Fen or the place that inspired HZGG. Well, it's a subway station.  So...it's pretty unepic. But I did get a photo of the sign that said Gong Zhu Fen.

My friend and I were planning to go to the set where they shot HZGG but that plan fell through the roof. That place is supposed to be quite a way outside the city so we were actually ready to spend a whole day to get there and back. Unfortunately the day before we planned to go, we decided to go to the Ba Da Ling Great Wall near the Olympic One World One Dream sign. On a Sunday in the Chinese National Day weekend. 

Well, needless to say, the combination of the destination and the date made traffic...a nightmare. We left the house at 7am and got the Great Wall at 12 noon. Yeah, I spent 5 hours standing squished on a bus. Anyway, we knew that to go to the place where they shot HZGG, we'd have to pretty much make that same bus trip, only go for even longer. After that bus trip from hell, not even the prospect of seeing Shu Fang Zhai (if it's still there, which is doubtful) could draw two massive HZGG fans to get on that bus again. 

And I actually had hoped to see Jing Yang Gong when I visited the Palace Museum. That didn't happen either. Again, it was Chinese National Day holidays, so the Palace Museum was packed. I don't think it would be even that packed when people actually lived there. So basically by the time we made it from the Imperial Garden out to Qian Qing Gong, we were basically too eager to get out of the crowd (by that time, all we could actually see was people and practically nothing else.) to even want to go find Jing Yang Gong which was somewhere off to the sides. We didn't even bother to fight our way in to see Tai Hua Dian which is arguably one of the main attractions of the place. 

 View from Wu Men

Boy, after visiting the Palace Museum, did I feel for Xiao Yan Zi. Now I totally understand why she needed the Easy Kneeling. And now I also so understand why getting in was hard, getting out of the palace was even harder.   

We sat on the steps of Yang Xin Dian, eating ice cream. I'm pretty sure Qian Long would have loved us for it if he ever knew. Then again, I'm pretty sure if ice cream existed in China in those days, Xiao Yan Zi would not be above eating it while sitting on the steps of Yang Xin Dian either.

No, I didn't make it to Heng Dian Studios in Zhejiang to check out the set of the New HZGG. But that's probably for the best. Though speaking of New HZGG, walking around the market, or the Palace Museum, or the Great Wall, there were a lot of stalls selling the Manchurian princess hats as souvenir or toys. Please tell me this is normal in Beijing regardless of the new HZGG being made. But even then, I suspect these princess hats are a result of the New HZGG since along with Manchurian princess hats, there were exact replica of the new Sai Ya's (Tibetan princess) hat as shown in released stills of HZGG. Well, looks like the drama isn't even out yet and it's already making money. 

Panda Ge ge

There's no point to this post

Apparently the internet at work hates Blogspot because it won’t let me do anything.

Anyway, regardless of that last “I’m giving up” post, I managed to get out 5000 words on Sunday at Highlands in the two and a half hours that it took for me to wait for my sister to finish her English lesson at Apollo. Hmmm…maybe there is some merit to the idea of writing in coffee shops after all. I think right now I have about 15k. It's still way behind schedule, of course.

Highlands, Highlands. It’s one of those coffee shops that are ideal to write in, provided you don’t go to the ones in the middle of shopping centres like the one at Vincom, which is always crowded. But they have power points, internet (not always a good thing while you’re writing come to think of it), and they don’t give you dirty looks if you sit there for two hours with one drink.

But they kind of baffled me on Sunday. It was 10 am, you order a green apple tea, you’d think considering they just opened for a few hours, they’d still have it. But no, they have run out. You order a mocha, you’d think a coffee shop would have it at 10 in the morning. Uhm…no? Bizarre.  So I ended up with a cà phê sữa đá, which in Highlands costs about three times more than it’s worth. I’ really buying the brand here, aren’t I?

~*~

Headdesk moment of the week:

 

Why? Just, why???

Where's my Nano plot bunny?

I am debating whether I should be continuing with Nanowrimo.

No, I am not doubting my ability to write 50,000 words. Last year I wrote 150,000 words in November, and they all actually made sense, with a tight plot and characters and all. The only reason it's not made its way onto FF.net yet is that currently I have three unfinished stories on there and adding another one with the added pressure of actually updating it is not exactly ideal, especially when one of my WIP hasn't been updated in about a year. That, and the fact there were bits that I skipped in Nano09 that I dread going back and filling in.

So, anyway, I've pretty much proved that with a good idea, I can fulfill all the requirements of Nano - that is write at least 50k words that is a novel.

The key words being with a good idea. Which, this year, I do not have.

I spent 200 words describing snow earlier today and then wrote a very useless conversation that is pure fluff and padding. When I normally write fanfic, and start going off into random conversations that have nothing to do with the plot (or, in this case, for lack of one), it is a sign that I should stop writing and take a beat.

In my normal stories when this happens, it's not that big of a disaster because there is still some semblance of a plot which will eventually get me back on track. The problem with Nano'10, then, is there is no track.

So, so far, I'm not really getting anywhere. I keep changing my mind about where this is going.

And I'm not sure I want to spend November writing complete crap that will be going straight to the Trash come December, that doesn't make sense and have no business showing its face to the world if it wasn't for Nano.

Yes, I know. That is the point of Nanowrimo. Well, not. It is the point of Nanowrimo when you've never written a novel before and never thought you could. In that case, the accomplishment of having written 50,000 words that connect is huge. Trust me, I felt this when I wrote my first complete long fic. But once you've churned out fanfics that altogether add up to about half a million words, you kind of know you can do it so, honestly, without a decent idea, the thrill of Nano isn't there. It's not Nano itself that lost the appeal, you know. It's the lack of idea that made Nano seem like a trek up Badachu.

So, for now? Let's just say my Nanovel is on hiatus. It might pick up again in the last week, you never now, considering then I'll probably be pretty bored sitting in a hotel lobby waiting for and playing reception to scholarship candidates coming in for their interviews. I know then I'd have stretches of 20 minutes at a time doing absolutely nothing and I might then be bored enough to create a plot bunny.

Writers are scary

It is October 30. What does that mean?

No, it does not mean that Halloween is tomorrow (though that is true, it's not the point of my asking the question). It means that the day after tomorrow, Nanowrimo starts. I'm starting to get that dreading feeling at the pit of my stomach since as of right now, 4:49pm on October 30th, I still don't know what my Nanowrimo will be about. It's not unlike the feeling that followed me throughout three years of university when I realise the next day I have to hand in a 2000 words essay and I haven't started the research.

Well, maybe not exactly like that. But I still don't know what I will write about. But that's ok, I don't have to do Nano this year. But I was just strolling around the Nanowrio forum and had a sort of epiphany.

Writers are scary.

This realisation has actually been coming on for a while now. But looking around the Reference Desk forum of Nanowrimo, there are some pretty twisted research that writers do.

All in the name of research, you, as a writer, can ask perfect strangers on the internet to tell you things like how they felt when they were raped, how a wife would kill her husband but set it up as a suicide, whether there are ways to get illegal stuff past airport security, how to hide a body or to create a new identity to hide away from the police. And people will reply to your question with posts that are so detailed that they are practically novels themselves.

I swear if a real criminal ever go onto a writers' forum, he seriously would get some foolproof ideas.

Of course, I myself have at certain times Googled things such as how to kill someone with acupuncture, where to stab someone to kill them as painlessly and quickly as possible, and complications in pregnancies.

You know, on the bus stop near where I lived in Sydney, there used to be an ad from the Ministry of National Defence or something, encouraging people to report suspicious going-ons in their neighbourhoods, with hints like if you see your neighbour do suspicious searches on the internet, you should report them. Considering I did do some of these search while I was still in Sydney, I'm glad no one ever thought to check the internet searches of a random international student. As for the last search on pregnancy, however, when you live at home with parents the last one is not something to Google when there is a chance of someone standing behind you reading over your shoulders. 

Mutant plot bunny and what became of it

There is nothing that could excuse the - ahem - story that is coming up, except lack of sleep and over-indulgence of caffeine. I can only say this, if you are a Twilight fan and happened to stumble on this, I hope you won't be too offended because none was meant. If you have no concept of Twilight references, well, what rock have you been hiding under? :P Anyway, if you really don't get Twilight references, this won't make a whole lot of sense.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. I'm not making money off this. Xiao Yan Zi and Er Kang belongs to Qiong Yao, Twilight references belong to Stephenie Meyer and the utter pointlessness of this piece belongs to me.

~*~

Everything around her smelled like freesia. Or maybe it was lavender. It made her mouth water.

About three things Xiao Yan Zi was absolutely positive.

First, there was no way flowery smells could make one's mouth water. Flowers were not food, no matter how it sounded like flour. Even then, flour on its own wasn't particularly appetising either.

Second, no one could confuse the smell of lavender with freesia. They were two completely different scents.

And third, she wasn't unconditionally and irrevocably in love with a vampire.

But as it was, this wasn't reality, therefore, the world smelled like lavender. Or freesia. And it made her mouth water. As for the vampire? Well, she was pretty sure they didn't exist, even in a world where freesia and lavender smelled the same.

She was seated the front seat of a shiny silver Volvo, though she was not sure how she knew that, considering she was inside the car and normally wouldn't be able to tell the make of one car from another to save her life. She was not sure who was driving, but the car was moving ridiculously fast, going over hundreds of miles an hour. Logic would dictate that it was impossible for a car to move that fast on a Beijing road, but apparently, the driver (whoever they were) were just that good of a driver and had awesome reflexes. Of course, logic would also dictate that it didn't matter how awesome a driver was and how fast his reflexes were, no car could possibly move faster than the car in front of them on a straight road without eventually causing an accident. Still, the car and its driver defied logic.

Xiao Yan Zi looked over just to see who the driver was, and for a moment, all she could do was blink. It was not the sunlight shining through the window that was stopping her from seeing. She was temporarily blinded by the way the driver's skin sparkled, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface.

As her eyes adjusted to the impossible refractions of light from smooth skin, she recognised who was sitting beside her in the car. It was Er Kang. She supposed in that halo-like glow of sun and sparkles around him, she should think he was some kind of god, an angel, too glorious to be beside her. But the only thing she could think of doing was laugh hysterically at the idea of Er Kang sparkling in the sunlight like he just poured a bucket of body glitter over his head. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing, hoping his hearing was not too acute to detect the laugh still bubbling up from her lungs, and that he could not read her mind.

He drove silently, not looking at her. She, on the other hand, could not seem to keep her eyes off him. Perhaps it was because he sat so perfectly still, like a sculpted statue, despite the fact that he was driving at break-neck speed. Or maybe it was because his scintillating arms were totally bare, glinting in the sunlight, as they stretched to grip the steering wheel. Still, they didn't speak to each other. She supposed usually neither of them were particularly verbose. Was that the right word, verbose? Didn't that mean that a person had the tendency to use unnecessary long, complicated words? She wished she had a dictionary to check, because if that was what verbose meant, it wasn't the word she was looking for. She actually was looking for a word that meant talkative. Well, why couldn't she use talkative then? Yes. Neither of them were talkative to each other, normally.

Xiao Yan Zi didn't know how long they drove with that impossible speed, but the next thing she knew, they stopped at the edge of a forest.

Wait. Forest? In Beijing? Huh?

Had they gone out of Beijing, already? Even then, this didn't look like anything anywhere near Beijing. She was chagrined. But could she deny the unfamiliar forest that was sprawling in front of her eyes? No, it looked too green to someone so used to the bustling city. An alien sight, impossible to ignore.

Despite the fact that she was now out of the car, the world still smelled of lavender. Or freesia. She still couldn't decide. And did she eat anything that morning? Because for some reason, the scent of flowers still made her mouth water!

Er Kang was out of the car too, sparkling more gloriously than ever now, so that Xiao Yan Zi had to squint to look at him. A normal Xiao Yan Zi would wonder why she was standing in the middle of nowhere alone, beside a car she didn't recognise, with Er Kang. Not that there was anything wrong or untrustworthy about him, really. No, on contrary, she knew she could trust Er Kang to keep her safe anywhere, but to actually be out alone with him was just...bizarre.

He grabbed her hand and pulled, nearly dragged, her with him into the forest.

Think: Fu Er Kang was dragging her into a deserted forest that she didn't even realise existed.

With chagrin, she wondered to herself why she didn't feel any panic. He was moving way too fast, and she could not keep up, but it didn't matter, because a moment later, Xiao Yan Zi realised that he was actually carrying her on his back, while running at break-neck speed. She felt like a monkey on his back, gripping his shoulders with all ther fingers spread out like spider legs. But that was the only way she could ever keep up with his awesome, unbelievable and godlike speed and strength. She wondered how it was possible that she was moving at the speed of a charging bullet and somehow didn't hit her face on anything in the dense forest, or even more likely, go deaf from the pressure pushing in and the wind whislting in her ears.

Finally, they reached the top of the mountain (what mountain?) so that now the sun was shining fully on them, and Er Kang's face glittered even more blindingly than ever. He turned to her, with an expression that she thought was meant to be menacing and fierce and brooding like that of a Byronic hero. But because this was a face that was glittering like diamonds in the sunlight, Er Kang's expression only made Xiao Yan Zi wonder whether he was just depressed. Then again, if he was, she could hardly blame him, a man as he was, sparkling as he was. 

Then he said to her, in a voice that was meant to be self-loathing, but just sounded bored and depressed, "You should stay away from me."

Xiao Yan Zi thought this was an odd thing to say, considering he had dragged her here, and told him so. He, however, ignored her and continued as if she had not spoken. "You are my life now. But you should stay away from me. Do you see this? THIS IS THE SKIN OF A KILLER!"

For a moment, Xiao Yan Zi could only stare at him. Yeah, sure, so he was working in law enforcement, but as far as she knew, Er Kang had never actually killed anyone. So what was he on about? And since when was she his life?

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Before the last words had quite made it out of her mouth, Er Kang had grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her closer to him. His grip was like steel, so it was a wonder that every bone in her arms wasn't crushed, and he held her so that their faces were almost touching.

"I love you," Er Kang finally murmured.

Xiao Yan Zi gasped and struggled out of his grip, and shouted, "Are you on drug?"

"No, I've imprinted on you, and the impriting magic in me tells me to choose the best partner to carry on my genes and that's you, so now I'm in love with you. It doesn't matter that I've been in a relationship with your best friend and sworn sister for the last two years and I was going to marry her! I love you now. Because it's magic! Why are you not saying you love me back? Why are you not submitting to me?"

The last bit came out like a wolfish howl.

Xiao Yan Zi was terrified now, because Er Kang looked livid. He claimed to love her and yet at her rejection, he looked livid, demanding that she submit to him. That was enough reason for her to want to avoid him like a vampire now, since no decent guy would be angry at a rejection. Disappointed, sad, yes. Angry, not. But it didn't matter, because for Xiao Yan Zi there could only be one answer. If Er Kang said it was magic, then he was the one under a spell, not her.

"I will never love you," she shouted.

Er Kang howled even louder, and sudddenly, there was an explosion of fur. The next thing Xiao Yan Zi knew, sharp claws flew at her; she tasted blood, and then everything faded to black.

~*~

Let's face it, it's a Twilight reference galore so if you haven't read the Twilight series, most of this will just sound like a really badly written short story. I just want to explain use of characters in this "crossover fanfiction".

Xiao Yan Zi and Er Kang are characters from a Chinese TV show called Huan Zhu Ge Ge, which was very popular in Asia about ten years ago. It created a mania all over Asia, not unlike the phenonmenon that are the Harry Potter and Twilight series today. And now, ten years after I first watched the series on Vietnamese television, I am still writing fanfiction for HZGG (and apparently, people are still reading them).

So what does all this have anything to do with Twilight, you ask.

Well, nothing.

HZGG is set in China during the Qing dynasty, in the 1700s. So in terms of timeline, it has no relation to Bella, Edward, Emily, Sam and Leah. However, as I write fanfic, at times I find myself bored and/or stuck with the period setting, so I started writing a modern day version of HZGG, where instead of shooting her with an arrow, Yong Qi nearly runs Xiao Yan Zi over with his car. And because Xiao Yan Zi now lives in the 21st century, she naturally reads Twilight after being persuaded by Yong Qi's little sister. Being a history major, she is appalled at the historical inaccuracies in the Twilight series (rich banker in America in the 1930s, anyone?) and promptly goes into a rant. I started writing a chapter where Xiao Yan complains to Yong Qi about Twilight, but it soon became like an anti-Twilight rant disguised as HZGG fanfiction, so I scraped that chapter. But then this mutant plot bunny came into my head instead, begging me to write it and here it is. It is a collection of some of the things that made me laugh in Twilight, for all the wrong reasons, and the end is what I think Emily should have done, but probably what would happen to her if she continued to refuse Sam. 

And I'm sorry, Er Kang, you're not my favourite character in the world, but you don't deserve this. Please don't hold me responsible for this.  The mutant bunny made me do it.

“Phuong” was hard enough, how the heck is a foreigner supposed to pronounce “Fwong”?

In Vietnamese, there is a colloquial (and rather slangy and offensive) saying, “ngu rồi còn tỏ ra nguy hiểm”, which literally means someone who is stupid but pretending to be dangerous. It refers to somebody who talks about a matter that he absolutely does not understand in a way that is supposed to show off his knowledge on the subject but in reality just shows how ignorant he is. I have rarely seen anything that deserves that above title more than this article (it’s in Vietnamese).

This was originally published on Dan Tri, a web portal positioned towards increasing education in the population. Ironically, this is a portal that frequently publishes articles with grammatical errors, so I wasn’t too surprised that it actually published something so incredibly…stupid. But that’s another story. This above article just gets on my nerves because it shows how the author doesn’t understand both the Vietnamese language and Latin-based languages.

                                                                                                         

The general point of the article was calling for a revision and revolution of the whole Vietnamese alphabet and spelling system because the current system is “too complicated for nothing”.

The author claims that the current Vietnamese alphabet with letters that do not exist in the English alphabet (for example, đ, ư) makes it harder for Vietnam to integrate with the world. Yeah, say that to the Chinese and the Russian.

He also claims that the Vietnamese language is “wasting” letters F, J, W, and Z by using “PH”, “GI”, “Ư” and “D” respectively to represent sounds created by the former letters. He also claims that we are messing up “D”, which is normally pronounced “Z” in (standard) Vietnamese (“French/English D” is actually written as “Đ” in Vietnamese) while as a mathematical notation, “D” is still pronounced the “French way”.  Ok, so I will give him that it can be baffling to understand why the rest of the world pronounce D one way and we Vietnamese pronounce it in a completely different way and invent another letter to represent the sound the rest of the world uses for D.  However, just because it doesn't necessarily conform to the rest of the world, does it mean we have to change it? Where’s the cultural distinction in language then? Why don’t we just turn around and speak and write English if we want to pronounce it their way? (For the record, the French pronounces “I” as “ee” which is the letter “E” in English, so who’s wrong? Hehe.)

He also claims the lack of F, J, W, Z in Vietnamese can make it confusing for students learning maths and natural sciences which do use these letters. So? How is that different from learning to write squiggly Greek sigma, omega, mu, nu, which are, in fact, even harder to write properly than F, J, W, Z (theta, not so much)? Should the rest of the world incorporate these Greek letters into their alphabets now to cater to the maths language?

What gets on my nerves most is his suggestion that we replace Ư with W. Why? Because in Vietnamese there is one case where we use W to represent the Vietnamese letter Ư in an abbreviation. One. Oh and because on the Vietkey typing system, you hit the letter W on your keyboard when you want to type Ư.

Erm…dude? W is a consonant. Ư is a vowel. Just think on that for a minute.

If according to his “conversion”, then Phương, a very very common name in Vietnamese, would now be written Fwong. This is hilariously ironic.

Phuong is a very difficult Vietnamese name for many foreigners to pronounce. I have rarely, if ever, heard a foreigner pronounce it right on the first go. They usually pronounce it…wait for it… Fwong. Which is WRONG! That’s not how you pronounce it! I can’t write down phonetically how that name is pronounced, but the English pronunciation of Fwong is absolutely and 100% wrong. And here, this guy is suggesting that we change the spelling of that name to Fwong. Surely, let’s do that and then start to wonder why no one ever pronounces our name right.

I won’t go into how impossible it would be to place Vietnamese accent marks on a W.

The author of the article also has a vendetta against the letter combinations “GH”, which in Vietnamese is pronounced the same way as “G” and “NGH” which is pronounced the same way as “NG”. The use of these “silent H” combinations depends on some very simple grammar rules that you learn in about…grade 2, if not younger (I learnt it and I only went to Vietnamese school until grade 3). The author proposes we eliminate the “GH” and “NGH” combinations. I may consider the idea properly if he actually had a decent reason for this proposal. Instead, his reason is “so we don’t have to confuse for no reason over whether to write “ngành ngề” or “nghành nghề” or “nghành ngề” or “ngành nghề” .

FYI, it’s “ngành nghề” (career).

Basically, his reason is that it requires him to think and so it’s not worth it. Yeah. Just announce to the world that you can’t grasp basic, primary school grammar, why don’t you.

His conclusion is we don’t need to make our language “complicated in a stupid way”. The way this guy writes this, he apparently thinks other languages is written so simply and exactly as it sounds. He fails to realise that Vietnamese is one of the least complicated languages in terms of spelling and grammar. Once you grasp the rules of spelling, you can pretty much spell almost anything. By the time you are in grade 3, you should be able to spell perfectly, even if you have no idea what you’re spelling means. There are no such thing as “spelling bees” in Vietnamese because the sound you produce when you speak is exactly what you put down on the page. Spelling, in Vietnamese, in a concept for very young primary school students. In fact, Vietnamese, with all its “redudant” letters, is a language where if you know how to pronounce a word, you will 99% of the time spell it correctly (or at least you will spell it as you speak it, so if you mispronounce, you will also misspell). Unlike English. Colour, anyone?

The thing is, Vietnamese teenagers today need no help from this guy in corrupting our language.  The Vietnamese brand of textspeak already contorts the written language so that it almost becomes a code, already doing what this guy suggests and eliminating the “GH” and “NGH” and replacing letters with “F” etc. The result is that eventually they will carry those textspeak habits over to their academic writing, and heaven forbid, one day, my friends will be called “Fuong” instead of “Phuong”. Kind of like how “thru” is making its way to be a legit word in the English language.

The rainy season is here...

I like rain, if I can be inside and listen to the rain pattering against the window and feel the cool air through said window if it doesn't rain hard enough to have to close the window. But when it rains in Hanoi, I begin to miss Sydney roads. Water may come up to my ankle on the UNSW Main Walkway and the wind will render any umbrella useless, but at least it's just water and it's clean. I don't think there's anywhere you can go in Hanoi in the rain that will not result in mud covering your shoes. (Future reference to self, new Converses do not make good shoes in the rain.) Seriously, where is all this dust coming from that the moment it rain, it has to become a mudslide on the road?

There's a principle to riding a motorbike in the rain in Hanoi, that if you are riding next to a car (or even just another bike) you might as well go straight into a puddle yourself. If you go into the puddle, and you go slowly enough, you can probably avoid getting splashed. If you avoid the puddle, the vehicle next to you will splash you, no matter what. 

I'm not sure what it is that other people get to eat that I don't, but there are apparently some obvious facts about traffic that just escape some Hanoians.

1. If you are stuck in traffic on a two way street, going into the lane going in the opposite direction will not solve the problem, it's only going to make the traffic jam worst.

2. If you are stuck in traffic, blowing the honrn non-stop will not help. It will only give people around you a headache. 

The mentality behind some people's inability to grasp the second fact, especially, just baffles me. To avoid a rant, I will just say this: Vehicle horns should be banned on the streets of Hanoi. Whoever invented this thing obviousy didn't consider people's ability to abuse it.

My boss tells me I'm the only Vietnamese he knows that can't ride a motorbike. Sometimes looking at the roads I travel on everyday, I don't have to wonder why. Bleh.

New Huan Zhu Ge Ge - *Facepalm* plot points that will ruin the remake for me

Ever since Qiong Yao announced the remake of Huan Zhu Ge Ge, I've angsted enough over the wtf were they thinking inappropriate casting, the ugly poor costuming and make up, non-existent lacking chemistry and the fact that there is a remake at all. By now I've pretty resigned to the cast et al, and if it ever comes out in Viet-sub or Viet-dub I will probably still end up watching it just for the laugh, but I know I won't enjoy it. Just what I know of the plot at this moment is already enough for me to headdesk so many times that it's a wonder I don't have a massive bruise on my forehead.

DISCLAIMER: This post is only correct as far as with the information I had at the moment of writing this. New information of the remake had since come out, though it does alleviate certain fears, it doesn't make the remake sound any more attractive to me.

 

1997 vs 2010

(Of course, a lot of this is speculations building on just hints of the plot, but Qiong Yao plots aren't that hard to guess...)

1. Benjamin

Let's get some facts straight here. HZGG takes place in Qian Long's court in the 1700s. Qian Long was notoriously famous for his attitude towards foreigners. He thought China was the centre of the universe and all other countries, especially those "barbarians" in the West, were inferior. So there is no way in hell that there will be a Western painter in his court, much less that said painter (Benjamin) would be allowed to hang around the palace often enough to become best friends with Yong Qi, Qian Long's favourite son (which was also a fact, not something that Qiong Yao made up!) and chatting up his daughters. (Oh, let's stick a Caucasian guy playing the violin the middle of Qian Long's court!)

Yo, baby, you wanna go out with me?

I could pass off Benjamin's existence in this remake under artistic suspension of disbelief, but Qiong Yao practically ruined that chance with a blog entry announcing her reasons for including this Benjamin character. It was because she met the actor who played him at a party and was so astounded at his ability to speak Chinese fluently that she decided to write him a part in the remake. 

Yeah. That's a stupid reason, as far as I'm concerned. It's like the writers of Ly Cong Uan - Road to Thang Long writing in a part for Joe Ruelle just because he speaks good Vietnamese. Ok, the comparison is a little unbalanced, considering Road to Thang Long is a more serious production than HZGG, but still. The reason for Benjamin's existence is still stupid. 

There's a rumour somewhere that Xiao Yan Zi speaks English in this remake as a result of Benjamin being there. Please, no. Just, no. She can't even speak Mandarin "properly", why would she learn English? Wouldn't she be better off learning Manchurian anyway? 

2. Xin Rong 

Apparently Qiong Yao is determined to make me hate Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi. Why? Because she invented this Xin Rong Ge Ge out of nowhere. And according to released information, Xin Rong is a typical lady of the court, a favourite with both Yong Qi's mother and grandmother. Yong Qi's mother also arranged a marrige between the two of them since they were children.

That's right. Yong Qi is engaged. Yong Qi is engaged to Xin Rong, and in comes Xiao Yan Zi. 

Somehow, somehow, Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi will end up together, regardless of Xin Rong. And I'm pretty sure with Qiong Yao writing this, Xin Rong won't simply back off just because Yong Qi is in love with Xiao Yan Zi. Oh no, it will be love triangle galore a la Qiong Yao. 

If they stayed true to character, this triangle would then be impossible. 

(1) Yong Qi has to know he has an arranged marriage to Xin Rong

(2) If he knows this and still makes a move for Xiao Yan Zi then he's a jerk, thus out of character. (If he knows this, falls in love with Xiao Yan Zi and angsts silently but doesn't take action then Qiong Yao is wasting her time because the plot will then not move.)

(3) If he makes a move for Xiao Yan Zi and fails to mention Xin Rong and the arranged marriage then he is even a bigger jerk. And when Xiao Yan Zi finds out she should have no problem dumping him. 

(4) If he makes a move for Xiao Yan Zi and does mention Xin Rong then there is no way Xiao Yan Zi, in her right mind, would accept his feelings, let alone return them. A more appriopriate reaction (that is, if she was in character) would be to slap him and tell him to shod off. No, Xiao Yan Zi will not care he is a prince.  

But seeing how we know that Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi will end up together, we know that (1) and (2) will happen and (3) and (4) probably will not. So now we have a love triangle of Xiao Yan Zi-Yong Qi-Xin Rong. Woohoo. Not.

 It doesn't help that the actress who plays Xin Rong is a lot prettier than Li Sheng who plays Xiao Yan Zi. Haizzz

I have written love triangles with Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi in fanfic before but both times it was in reaction to the way Qiong Yao writes them in HZGGIII. As far as I'm concerned, Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi have enough problem without love triangles getting in the way. The difference in their social positions, upbringings and character alone creates a myriad of problems enough to last a lifetime, even before you pull in the whole Romeo-Juliet factor of her father opposing the Emperor and thus was executed for treason. 

I don't need Yong Qi to prove anything by giving up Xin Rong to be with Xiao Yan Zi. He already proved that he would give up the throne for her, how would Xin Rong compare to that? I don't need Xiao Yan Zi to prove anything by choosing to be with Yong Qi despite of Xin Rong. I don't need a love triangle to believe in their love story, to believe that their love is real. Why can't Qiong Yao realise that it was Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi themselves that charmed her fans all those years ago, to the point that we still care enough today, thirteen years later, to feel outraged at this sudden development? 

Not to mention, if Yong Qi has a prior engagement, that means Xiao Yan Zi is "the other woman". This is the 18th century, people. Engaged = practically married. I am not watching HZGG to see Xiao Yan Zi waltz in and steal someone's husband. 

And I will bet anything that somehow along with all this, Xin Rong will be portrayed as evil/the antagonist. It doesn't matter that she was there first, it doesn't matter that she's only going to try to take back what was hers to begin with, she will somehow come up with crazy schemes to win Yong Qi back and that will be considered evil. Why? Because Xiao Yan Zi is the title and main character of course.  

If she doesn't do anything to win Yong Qi back she will end up this pathetic, pitiful girl who is weak and then shoved together with some random guy who just happens to hang around in a contrived romance to get her off Yong Qi's hands. 

I'm not sure which would be more painful to watch. Both scenarios would be so typical Qiong Yao.

And then there's a rumour that Xin Rong hangs herself. If that happens, I will cry. If that happens, I will want to kill Yong Qi. But I don't think even Qiong Yao could make that happen (touch wood). Still, the end result will probably be like a combination of Elinor Dashwood-Edward Ferrars-Lucy Steele and Leah Clearwater-Sam Uley-Emily. I can only hope somehow Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi will retain some of Elinor and Edward's dedency. Either way, Xin Rong will end up with the most pain, which will make me hate Xiao Yan Zi and Yong Qi anyway. Thanks, Auntie Qiong Yao, for ruining your two best characters for me. 

3. Love Triangles

Even more love triangles. Or polygon. Or something. 

You would think that love triangle up there with Xin Rong is complicated enough, but Benjamin has to be in love/has a crush on Xiao Yan Zi too. Huh?

Seriously, do either of these guys look like they're in love, or is one just leering at her, and other just staring off into space? If they're this unconvincing in a photo, how painful will it be to watch in motion?

My biggest question is, What's the point?!

Qiong Yao proclaim to have changed 70% of the plot but she can't very well change the established relationships, not if she wants to keep viewers. We know all Xiao Yan Zi will do is act like her normal clueless self and somehow lead poor Benjamin on but will end up with Yong Qi anyway. 

Huan Zhu Ge Ge is not a love story. Let me repeat that, Huan Zhu Ge Ge is not a love story!

It's a story about Zi Wei looking for her father and all the complications along the way, which just happens to include both her and Xiao Yan Zi falling in love. The point of it is not romance. And that's what made HZGG so successful, that's why people still talk about it today, when all other Qiong Yao work has sunk into the backdrop. It's about more than just Qiong Yao's normal melodramatic, over-the-top, it-doesn't-matter-if-the-whole-world-is-falling-apart romances. 

4. Yong Qi's mother

When I heard that Lin Xin Ru was playing Yu He, mother of Zi Wei (the character Xin Ru herself played in the old version), I laughed and wondered what on earth she was thinking. Does she want to be associated with HZGG for the rest of her career? (That is already happenning anyway, but wouldn't the normal course of action would then be to try to get out of that typecast?)

When I heard that Qin Lan was playing Xiao Yan Zi's mother, I headdesked because of the bizarre and baffling casting choice. I think it's totally inappropriate that the actress who played Xiao Yan Zi's love rival in Part III of the old version should turn around to play her mother in the remake. But I could live with it, since it was only a guest role. And guest role usually meant walk on, do a scene, walk off. 

But then they casted Yong Qi's mother, Yu Fei. I don't know the actress. But my problem was not with the actress. It's with the fact that Yong Qi has a mother at all.

In the old version, Qiong Yao killed Yong Qi's mother off while in history she really lived to be 79 years old. Ok, so now she's alive and it's historically correct. But does that mean that Qiong Yao will be able to really kill Yong Qi off at age 25 too to keep it totally historically correct? 

We all know what happened at the end of HZGGIII. Yong Qi left his family, the palace, his title, the throne to live as a normal person outside the palace with Xiao Yan Zi. Already, as it was at the end of HZGGIII, I have major problems with this decision. Looking beyond the romantic gesture, he's abandoning a lot. His father, his son, his responsibility, his people. There's more to being an Emperor than just getting a huge inheritence of money, there's a chance to do something good for the country and he's giving that up. But ok, I get it, Qiong Yao was restricted by the historical fact that real, historical Yong Qi died at age 25, so in fiction, she has to make him leave so that the palace could announce his "death". 

But now add his mother to the list of things he's abandoning. The decision suddenly becomes 100 times worst. 

Qian Long has a lot of sons (well, not really, by that time he doesn't have that many left alive). But still, without Yong Qi, he still has his choices of sucessors. But Yu Fei only has one child. Yong Qi.

Qian Long doesn't like Yu Fei, however Yong Qi is his favourite son. Her only source of comfort and protection in the palace therefore is her son, Yong Qi. 

And what does he do? He falls in love and runs off with Xiao Yan Zi. Yu Fei must accept what the rest of the world is led to believe, that he "died". And we wonder why Yu Fei might not like Xiao Yan Zi?

I don't care if it's true love. I don't care how bad it was in the palace for Xiao Yan Zi. If Yong Qi does this, I will cry. Again. 

I would like to think that Qiong Yao would not make Yong Qi so heartless as to leave his mother in the end. But the fact that Qiong Yao already let Yong Qi leave his own son at the end of HZGGIII does not assure me. 

This is where I hope desperately that the 70% that Qiong Yao decides to change of the plot includes how she will "finish off" Yong Qi in the end. Like maybe kill him off for real. I really would rather he dies for real, and somehow that pulls Xiao Yan Zi and Yu Fei closer together or something, than that he leaves the palace for Xiao Yan Zi, abandoning Yu Fei (and Xin Rong...and who knows who else too?). I mean, seriously, there has to be a way for Yong Qi to love Xiao Yan Zi and not be totally bất hiếu (bu xiao) in the process! 

-----

I guess after all this rambling, the point is that Qiong Yao is falling way, way, way back into her zone of comfort. That is, melodramatic, saccharine, shiver-inducing sweet romances with lots of tears, love triangles, jealousy and implausibility, where romantic love is the only thing that matters in life and should triumph over everything, literally. She even admits it on her blog, that this will be "the most romantic love story of the Qing dynasty era!" In Qiong Yao talk, that means I won't like it. 

The old version wasn't without flaws. The old HZGG did many times go into Qiong Yao realm of melodrama but still, the cast made it enjoyable. Most of the new cast don't even look convincing in their part, so I don't know what we will end up with when we put them in this new plot. Wait and see, I suppose.

Am I being overly pessimistic about this remake, despite professing myself to be optimistic? Probably. But I won't lie. Half of the success of the old version for me was due to the cast, so with the new cast, it was hard to be convinced in the first place. Then comes the plot summaries. They don't do much to make me curious, just enough to make me cringe. But you never know, someone who has never seen the old version might actually like this version. Either way, lots of people will watch it, whether I like it or not, whether they like it or not, just simply to see what they come up with.

Meanwhile, I am back to hoping that the HZGG Subbing Team will come around to doing English-sub for HZGGII.