Everybody (Uni's Back)

Well, it has been the first day back at college for the latest term. It's been a day of minor-heart attacks, mini bouts of optimism and some annoyance.

The minor heart-attack was in the shape of a presentation for Response to Empire module. I hate presentations! What's more, I can't join a group on the webpage where we are to join. Frustrating. I want a specific topic, so I want to join fast to ensure I get it. But once again, technology is not being my friend.

Luckily, I got my reading list for Modernism and it looks good!

Yeats. Pound. James. I'm in heaven!

As for my Post-colonialism Literature and Theory list. Not so much happiness with that. Although I have been meaning to read Midnight's Children by Rushdie for a while now. So, it's not all bad.

The annoyance came at the end of the day as I queued for the bus. Typically a crowd came swarming around me and I ended up being one of the last to actually board the bus. That resulted in me standing for a few stops. But then the 5ive's Megamix came on shuffle. That's guaranteed to get you in a good mood as much as this gem. (Anyone who has seen This Is The End should agree.)
http://youtu.be/6M6samPEMpM

"Clueing For Looks"

It’s nigh on impossible to shut my trap and not completely fangirl about how great The Sign of Three episode of Sherlock was last night.
I’m holding on and holding on until my American friends have watched. But after reading a lot of negative comments about the episode on Twitter last night, I am trying especially hard to tie my fingers and not go all mad spoilery. All I will say is, drunk Sherlock and Watson made my week!
Be gone, nay-sayers! If you don’t get or don’t enjoy the bromance, then you miss half the magic of the show. Detective shows are two-a-plenty, what makes Sherlock great is the friendship and the fun you can tell that all involve are having.

A Fare-de-well?

Remember the other day when I bad-mouthed Blogger and reminisced the good old days when I blogged on Wordpress? Well, I went straight over to Wordpress and set up a new blog over there.
I take back the praise. Wordpress has changed!
It still causes less server problems than Blogger, but, dear lord! you'd think I was trying to land on Mars for the rigamole I have trying to find a decent layout. Apparently a simple black with perhaps a touch of red or blue and a vertical column is more rare than Thor/Loki themed Converse (I'm on the look-out and shan't give up!) They're also charging money. Pfft! What do I look like, in my Penny's t-shirt, torn jeans (that weren't bought, seven years ago, torn) and glued-on sole of my battered Doc's? Someone who has a pot to piddle in? Nope, not me. Typical poor student here!
A basic black will have to suffice.
And I'll saunter off now, try to decide which blog I will let slide from now on; here or www.moonlitquill.wordpress.com

Welcome 2014

A New Year, a new set of resolutions broken. Actually, no, strike that. No more resolutions. I got too tired of breaking them that I no longer start them. I think it's for the best.
I got my annual report from wordpress regarding my old blog. Apparently my writing has 'staying power.' Who knew? I sure didn't. I was surprised to see the report as I've not used that blog in years.
I miss it though. I miss those years. Granted, I was grossly unhappy and was in the midst of grieving for my brother. But I had Harry Potter and the fandom and that was deadly. And slightly embarrassing as I look back a see a lot was Harry related.
Crazy to look back. Look back and see what I achieved, what I didn't achieve, and what I no longer want to achieve.
I wonder what, in a few years, I make of this blog. It'll probably be 'Jeez! Did I ever use the damn thing?'
Truth be known, no offence Blogger (actually lots of offence, you're crap!) Wordpress was just better. My browse supported it, for starters. And layouts where easier to adapt for my own preference. Damn that moonlight-quill who owns the name on wp! I shall curse you until my throat is sore and dry...actually, that sounds like effort. I'll probably just leave it so.

Movies of 2013

It is that time of year again. Or better yet, let me remember that this is the first end of year I've had on this blog and state instead that this time of year is usually when I do a round-up of the films I've seen during the year and rank my top five. I used to do it a lot more in-depth, but time is short, lots to do, people to see...you get the picture. Allow me to proceed.

Les Miserables
The Impossible
Pitch Perfect
Movie 43
Flight
This is 40
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Great and Powerful Oz
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Identity Thief
Oblivion

*exasperated sigh*

It is currently essay season in college. Fun times? Not so much. Particularly when you're just home from college after spending the day (since 9 o'clock this morning!!!) in the library.

One down, a million billion zillion to go.

Oh, okay, I exaggerated a little with that million billion marlarky. That's just how it feels. I've an English one due on Friday. 3,000 words. *insert panicked face here* I should probably go start that...Anyone like to remind me why I thought a return to academia was a good idea?

The Day of The Doctor

I'm a Potterhead, Sherlocked and a Whoivan. I am also a big cinephile. I love everything about the cinema-going experience. The popcorn. The over-priced tickets. The sense you get when in the middle of a great crowd, all ready and willing to be entertained.
But never in all my trips to the cinema have I experienced the atmosphere that was last nights screening of The Day of The Doctor in cineworld. There were fezzes, pin-striped suits and even a forth Doctor, and that was just the crowd. (I lacked any Who-inspired clothing, which disappointed me. I did wear my Loki Charms t-shirt though, you know, just to show some geek.)

1. The bar part was somewhat pimped out with Bad Wolf posters and had Sonic Screwdrivers cocktails on offer. Sadly, we were the later showing and there wasn't much left. Not even a coke to wet my whistle, I had to make do with a diet coke *shudder*
2. Never has it been so packed. There was a queue for the pre-booked ticket machines. (never seen that before!) You couldn't move in the corridor for the crowd awaiting to go in.
3. The sense of camaraderie was something else. Strangers were stopping each other in the foyer and along the corridors complimenting each others t-shirts, costumes and fezzes. Oh, there were sooo many fezzes! (That's because fezzes are cool!) People were picking up conversations with people in the seats in front of them, behind them, and none of it was to complain. It was all excited Who-themed talk and many people offered their neighbours a Jelly Baby or two.
4. Clapping. Cheering. Gasping. Laughing. The 50th anniversary inspired it all. One guy was so utterly thrilled by the Curator that I think he bust an internal organ for the little joyous dance he did in his chair.

It was an entirely new experience, and one I wish would happen more often. It was a pleasure to be a Whoivan and witness that little pocket of time-wimey when the Doctor inspired nothing but thrilling bliss tinged with expectations of the grandest sort.

Mischief Managed

Well I guess it is time to discuss Thor: The Dark World. It's been a week since I first watched it, and maybe this is a late review, but in all honesty I have been busy. Namely by going to see it three times already.

I say already because I'm not opposed to seeing it for a forth time. (c'mon, the DVD release is months away.) Obsessive much? Perhaps. Or perhaps everyone I know was just so eager to see it and knew I wouldn't say no.
I don't even know where to begin? It was wall to wall packed full of awesome. We laughed, we gasped, we clapped.
I was unfortunate enough to be spoiled by some bitch on twitter, and I am also aware that it's not out yet in the rest of the world, so I'm reluctant to say much about the actual plot.
I will, however, say that I am in two minds whether it is as good as or even better than the first one...no, I'm actually not, it out-stripes the first one for the reason: Loki.
While Thor was Thor's movie (obviously) The Dark World is Loki's. He is the passion, the heart and a good proportion of the humour. Behind me, beside me and in front of me, there was someone still giggling at a line or two of Loki's by the end of the film. My nine year old nephew's new catchphrase is "Ta-dah." Hell, it's mine now too :-)

Orange

I am currently eating an orange and its as bitter as my soul.
I mention this solely because I'm taking a quick snack break from my neo-Assyrian rule in Israel and Judah essay, and when your typing with one finger on one hand, sometimes you can only state the obvious.
When I am finished with my sour orange orb and made a good dent into my essay I will delve into how awesome Thor: The Dark World was and is. Or perhaps I'll do it now because IT WAS COMPLETE AWESOME!!!! Then again, I do kinda want to pass college this year. Boo-urns!

God of Thunder

It's been a long time since I've believed in Santy, yet I still recall the excited nights Sean and I would spend glancing out the windows, running wildly about upstairs in our brand new pyjamas, all expectant and wide awake.

Oh that excitement was fun! And sadly bouts of wild giddiness don't come around yearly for me anymore. Now they come around when a new Thor is due to hit the big screen. Ye-oh!
That's right, this time tomorrow I will be purchasing my popcorn and my coke and getting set for a Thor double-bill - or more importantly, LOKI double-bill. Yum yum! - and a return to Asgard.

I am RIDICULOUSLY excited for this. Like, so beyond excited that if excitement was a line in the sand, I'm so far beyond it, the line is a dot to me. (I love that Joey Tribiani quote and have always wanted to use it.)

We bought our tickets ages ago so really, I should be grand - I've waited this long, right?! - yet tomorrow isn't coming fast enough for my liking! I cannot wait to slip on my Loki Charms T-Shirt and kick back and watch the god of Thunder kick dark-elven ass!

*tumbleweed*

There have been no new posts lately simply because there is nothing new happening. I'm still struggling to keep up with college work. Still looking forward to the Thor double bill (eight days and counting.) I'm still watching films and reading books. And it's still raining.
What's really odd is the fact that this isn't my first blog. (The others are now defunct - I put them on permanent hiatus by way of privacy settings when I started this one up.) But yet, despite having less going on in my life while keeping them, I updated more often. Practically daily, in fact.

I never had much to say, in all fairness, but I did have moans. A lot of moans. And I made a decision when I began Moonlight Quill not to bring over all that pessimism. Now, as it turns out, I've nothing without them. I'm one big moaning Michael, to steal a line from Father Ted.

I might rehash an old theme I used on my old, old blog. Weekly I will write about a subject that I love most.
(I like that idea, it gives me an excuse to babble on about John Frusciante. Which is never a bad thing.)

Bridge to Terabithia

*Spoiler Alert* From The Beginning*

Oh God, why? Why? Why did I watch this movie?
I was so very underprepared. I thought it was a sweet kiddie film of fantasy and friendship. I didn't expect to cry for ten minutes straight when Leslie died. Why did she have to die???? It was like this generations My Girl. Trauma. Major trauma.
*suck it up, be a woman.*
Okay, okay, I'm good now, I promise.

This was one of those films I didn't see in the cinema, I remember it, I just didn't have any interest in seeing it. Stumbling upon it on my sisters Netflix I decided that a fun adventure is what Sunday afternoons are all about.

BoT is not what is says on the tin, or to put it more appropriately, not how it looks in the trailer. It was less fantasy, more lonely boy struggling to find his place in the midst of an all sister family and a cranky ass father who seemed to show more favouritism to his daughters than his son, (I don't know, perhaps it was in a 'because he's a boy, and boys don't need outwardly shows of emotion *flexes muscle*' way?)
His way of escaping comes in the form of Leslie, the new and kooky girl next door. Together they explore their area, imaging the fantasy kingdom, Terabithia, and encountering all its self-imagined mythical creatures. These creatures resembling the issues facing the duo in school and at home.

As stated above, Leslie dies. *quiet sob* No killer bees that saw off Thomas Jay, though, (thus giving me a life long fear of bee-stings, btw) but an accident with the rope Leslie and Jesse used to enter Terabithia (cue a generation frightened of rope-swings) while J wasn't there. Cue survivors guilt from Jesse and hysterical sobbing from me. These films should really come with a warning for emotionally fragile dopes like myself!
And reading back through that, it comes across like I didn't like the film. On the contrary, I loved it. While it lacked the fantasy and much of the adventure I had been expecting, it more than made up for it in heart. Even before the killer emotional punch at the end.

Uni

Everyone always says to me, 'Oh, Trinity. I bet it's just like Hogwarts!' Unfortunately I have to tell them no, 'it is more like Stasi headquarters.'
I'm both English and Ancient Near East departments which places me the majority of the time in the Arts building. It's a dreary aul place. Narrow corridors, grey walls and small classrooms that are equally grey.
This year has seen a change in my classrooms though. I get to have one of my Jews in the Medieval Period in the Museum Building.

The Entrance Hall of the Museum Building

Four others are in Regent House. I've no pictures of Regent House, but allow the name to say it all.

As lecture theatres go, Regent House is the worse possible place for class. Bad acoustics means it's nigh on impossible to hear the lecturer if you're not sitting in the front three rows. It has also got the worse possible chairs for a bad back. But what they do have is two, count them, two bolted panels in the walls. The smallest one is within the heart of the large fireplace. The other stands just to its right.
I've no idea where either go. I can only conclude that one is a short-cut to Hogwarts (it is in the fireplace, after all. Floo network, anyone?!) the other, a doorway to Narnia. It's a reasonable enough theory and not flawed at all, right?

Blackberry Way

It's been a hazy, misty week this week. That type of weather in which it doesn't rain, yet you somehow get home soaked to the skin. That clammy kind of wet. It's hard on your chest and you begin to cough like you're a 40-a-day smoker.
Yes, I know, I'm discussing the weather. How utterly boring I am?!

In my defence, it has put a dampener on my most favourite aspect of this time of year: blackberry picking.
Illness prevented it last week. The week before, holiday. This week it also looks a bust because of the fog and rain. I am sad. If I can't get to go soon, the season will be over.

Blackberry picking was a thing I loved to do as a kid. I still have fond memories of it.
My eldest brother would bring us. We would be mucked up to the eyeballs, hands black from the juice and pockets full of conkers that we'd find along the way. The smell of fire fermented the air as smoke rose from chimney-pots in the near distance. And the aroma of stew would hit you the second you stepped over the threshold of home, leaving your muddy boots in the porch.

All Hallow's Eve

30 days until Halloween. I love Halloween. It's my Christmas, so to speak.

Unfortunately my sister has decided to cancel her Halloween party. I'm so disappointed. I had my costume idea and had begun, kinda-sort of, on it. By which I mean I was going as the Joker when he is dressed as the nurse in that scene in The Dark Knight.
My nephew has a lab coat that he doesn't use, it would have been perfect for the uniform. I was planning on jazzying it up by cutting the sleeves, adding a "Vote Dent" sticker, nurses watch and pairing it with an 80's style belt. But alas! it was no to be. *insert sad face*
I'll now have to make some other alternative plan for Halloween. And a tenner says it includes staying in my sisters and trying my best to get her to watch anything scary. She is wuss to the core. The opening credits of Are You Afraid Of The Dark are even too much for her. It's going to be a trial!

Round-up

Well, it's been a busy few weeks. It involved the holiday to Portugal. A return to college. Catching flu. My TV breaking. And the little teeny-tiny thing that was completion of the first draft of my book. (does a little victory dance)

The holiday was great, even if the food wasn't. It was nice to relax and spend at least a week not worrying about anything.

College has begun, with vengeance. I don't know why people say once first year is over, the hardest part is done. That's very misleading. It's only the second week and I'm having heart-palpations with the amount of work I've to do. Give me one more week and the sleepless nights will begin.
Essays will soon begin to mount up. I don't dare start them just yet though because I simply haven't a clue how to even begin. How can I do an essay on stuff we've yet to cover?

My flu is now beginning to abate. Thank Jebus. But sadly, I think it's too late for the television. That's dreadful news because 1. I'm now missing The Story of The Jews on BBC2 and 2. BBC4 had some great documentaries that I wanted to watch. I'm now unable too.

But that flu/no TV combination wasn't all bad. It meant that I had nothing else to do at the weekend but my whole college weekly readings, and finish my novel. I was a climax and epilogue short prior to Portugal. With college beginning the week I returned, I doubted I'd get the story finished this side of Christmas.
Thankfully I did, and Christmas may be instead spent working on the edits. I feel like rushing straight into edits, but I know it'll be better if I leave it alone for a while, let it mature, so to speak, and come back to it with fresh eyes.

HMV

My beloved has returned. Yes, HMV has re-opened here in the Republic of Ireland. But as with most things it life, it ain't half as good as it used to be!
For 8 months I've been DVD and CD dry. It's been hard, I can tell ya. There was even a time there that I thought I'd never go on another DVD buying binge again. The buzz had been lost.
But like a sip of sherry to Henry Sellers, once that honeyed poison crossed my lips (or to put it in normal words: once I crossed the threshold) I knew I was off the wagon. Big style.
We scanned, we browsed, we insulted Twilight. It was just like the old days.
We exclaimed 'what is this fuckery?' when we noticed the prices. Twenty euro for the new Iron Man 3??? Ouch! Ain't gonna happen, HMV. If I wanted to pay that price I'd purchase it in Golden Discs (at least there I can use my student discount.)
The Friday release of anything new meant you'd get it for thirteen euro, then during the week it went up to at least fifteen. I thought that was the HMV that was returning. Sadly no.
Some box-sets where also very highly priced (Golden Discs high priced) so that was a little surprising too. (Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad. Same price but I saw Mad Men and Game of Thrones cheaper in GD.)
You just know the price increase was because of the hardship HMV went through, but still, I can't help but weep for the lost of the new release buzz. Twenty euro is just too steep for any movie. I'll be waiting on the sales!

Pay Me No Heed

I really don't want to seem ungrateful, my family very kindly did a bunce-in job and paid for me to accompany them on holiday to Portugal next week: but I could really do with not going.
I don't enjoy sun holidays, I'd rather do the whole city-walking thing. But they were so lovely to suggest it in order to cheer me up I didn't like to seem narky by saying 'I'd rather not.' Besides, at the time a short trip away from all my problems seemed like the greatest plan ever.
But now it's upon me and I'm not excited for it at all. It helps not that I'm still the weight I was pre-summer. That I can't afford anything new to wear. Moping around a chilly Dublin suits my mood a little better than a sunny Algarve.
And now I'm just going to stop moaning like an emo and cop-on to the fact that so many more people in the world have actual problems and don't bitch half as much about them as I do. I'll shut my trap now.

Batfleck

OK, I'll admit it, when I first heard the Batfleck news my initial thought was *shudder* it'll be akin to George Clooney in Batman and Robin *shudder*
I was a big fan of Argo, it was one of the best films I've seen this year so I was also disliking the idea of Affleck moving away from the director's chair and into the Batmobile. But I've just got to get something off my chest: I think he'll be good (no, that's not the confession) simply because *takes deep breath* BaleWasn'tMyFavouriteBatman.
For most Bat fans, Affleck is a disappointment simply because they see him having big shoes to fill. I, on the other hand, didn't think Bale was all that fantastic. He was great, of course, but Keaton will always remain my ideal Bruce Wayne. (or he will until someone better comes along. Could that be Ben Affleck? I don't know, but I'm willing to give him a try!)

Bat for Lashes - Garden Heart

This is wonderful. I've had it on repeat all day today and yesterday.

Bat for Lashes is one of my favourite bands, Natasha is amazing. Her voice is chilling, in the best possible way. I was blown away those years ago when I first heard Horse and I, and I still get that awed feeling from her music. Garden Heart, from the soundtrack of the up-coming How I Live Now, is another one of those stunningly soulful songs that Natasha does so wonderfully. She's beautifully unique.