Tails’ Blography

Do you collect anything? (pick all that apply)

Movies/DVD’s/music (67%, 4 Votes)
Ornaments (ie faeries, dragons, etc) (33%, 2 Votes)
Other (please specify in a comment when the results go up) (17%, 1 Votes)
Dolls/Bears (17%, 1 Votes)Dust (17%, 1 Votes)
Tourist-y things (ie things from other countries, etc) (17%, 1 Votes)
Cars (0%, 0 Votes)
Fish (0%, 0 Votes)
Posters (0%, 0 Votes)
Spoons (0%, 0 Votes)
Shells (0%, 0 Votes)
Something not so mainline (ie someone unusual) (0%, 0 Votes)
Candles (0%, 0 Votes)
Shoes (or other clothing related items) (0%, 0 Votes)
Action Figures (0%, 0 Votes)
Stamps (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 6

Thanks to everyone who voted. New poll up: Stephanie Meyer/Twilight vs JK Rowling/J Rowling!

I’ve been reading a bit on this whole Twilight saga…and frankly, I’m disappointed. I watched the movie and I didnt like it. So I FB’ed about it on my status and was told to watch it again because I clearly missed the important bits. Quite frankly, its not the movie I had a problem with, the special effects etc were great. My problem was the stunted acting and the jerky dialog. Nothing flowed, it just didnt mesh well with me. For me, it seemed to be written a little under my level of reading, whereas HP can and does appeal to both kids and adults alike. Someone mentioned (in the link I add below) that Twilight is a phase, and that Harry Potter is a classic. My sentiments exactly. I’d sooner push a HP book in front of my (future) child than Twilight.

My opinions might be unfair as I havent read the Twilight book(s)…yet. I always believe the book is better than the movie, so I’m willing to give them a try. In fact, I’m clinging to this with Twilight. I’m a big, big Harry Potter fan, no doubt about that, so Twilight has some big shoes to fill (though I know they’re not even written on the same level or topic). I think that JK Rowling is an amazing author and the cast they found for the movies were the best of the bunch, which made the movies even more fantastic. Also taking into consideration Evanna Lynch who plays “Loony Luna Lovegood” in HP wasnt even an actress when she auditioned. Included in this list of great actors, is Robert Pattinson who played Cedric Diggory in HP and the Goblet of Fire. What on earth happened to him when he entered Twilight?? And Bella??? Need I say more! (and who on earth allows two co-actors to date whilst doing a movie?? It should be a clause in their contracts that no fraternising with the cast is allowed…I think this relationship might damage their acting ability on screen more than they think…but I could be very wrong about that…who knows. Still, it just doesnt seem right to date your co-star).

Anyway, there appears to be a lot of controvosy over this Twilight series and the author, and even Stephen King himself had none-too-good things to say about Meyer.

King, whose Stephen King Goes to the Movies collection came out last week, doesn’t know how much of an influence he had on Meyer, but he does know that Rowling read his stuff when she was younger. “I think that has some kind of formative influence the same way reading Richard Matheson had an influence on me,” King explains. “People always say to me, ‘Well, what about H.P. Lovecraft?’ And the thing was, you read Lovecraft when you were a kid but I never felt that he was speaking my language. It was chillier than my heart was, and when Matheson started to write about ordinary people and stuff, that was something that I wanted to do. I said, ‘This is the way to do it. He’s showing the way.’ I think that I serve that purpose for some writers, and that’s a good thing. Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. … The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

source: http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/02/exclusive-steph.html

So, what are your thoughts? Do you like or hate Twilight? Do you like or hate Harry Potter? What are your thoughts on the movies and the authors? I want to hear your opinion!

Today we’re offically through into our third week of NaNoWriMo! I’m at 24,168 words and going strong! We met at the River Club for our halfway party, with EvilBelgian, his dad, Magependragon, myself and my bf having breakfast there beforehand.

The breakfast deal is well worth it, at R70, for a self-helping of cold breakfast (cereals, croissants, danishes, etc), and hot serving of eggs, bacon, sauteed potatoes, friend onion rings, fried tomatoes, and sausages. The deal also included a bucket of 50 balls (hiring of a club is R10) which you could then knock off the driving range or you could rather choose to play a 9 hole game instead of the bucket. I had fun taking food pics, but I forgot to take a photo of our hot breakfast…lesigh.

Fruit salad!

Lots of pastries

The buffet itself

The bf whacking it to the moon!

The Hot Food buffet

After eating our fill and putting (in my case) our balls off the second floor of the driving range, we proceeded with the NaNo Half Way Party. Loot in the form of adorable Dinosaur Erasers, which I dubbed Wrimo’Rasers, noise making balloon blowers (gosh these things were noisy!), and other cool things (I got a replacement feather for my one that blew away at the kick off party haha).

After we ate, laughed, drank, laughed some more (that creepy murder music was eery!) we eventually parted ways, with promises to continue on with our novel plight with due diligence.

And for the first time in ages, I lugged my camera with to document the event

Everyone chatting…

An authentic NaNo Sticker

My Wrimo’Raser: Gearz

My “Snack Basket” (there are chips under those spring rolls haha)

Gearz making a break for it!

Just thought I’d pop in and let everyone know I’m still alive. Haha! NaNo is going well and I’ve almost reached today’s target of 21,271 (I’m on 21,251). My story is on a roll now, and things are just coming to me quite nicely. Every now and then I pause from a mind-blank, but within minutes I’m back up and running.

I’m saddened by the lack of activity on my blog, though, in the form of comments. If you’re a Wrimo, I’d love for you to drop me a comment with either some words of encouragement or on how you’re finding NaNo.

I know a dear friend of mine had to postpone her NaNo for next year as she wasnt able to give her story the focus it deserved, and wanted to tell the story right. With the amount of attention she was putting into NaNo, it wasnt working out like she wanted and thus her decision to stop. Although I’m sad she’s no longer NaNo’ing with us, she has my full understanding and support for her decision, as I know she was sad to do so.

I’m going to the Canon Wild Roadshow at the V&A Waterfront tomorrow…cross fingers that I win something please haha (I could use a 24-70mm 2.8 L haha or even an EOS 7D haha! Sure! Couldn’t we all!). Ag even if I dont win, it’s fun going and and we do get fed, so that’s always a bonus.

Then on Sunday we have the NaNo Half-Way Party for our region. If you’re in Cape Town, and doing NaNo, please join us and say hi! It’s at The River Club in Obs and I’ll be there from 10:30am having their buffet breakfast (R65). The meet/party officially starts at 12/noon so hopefully we’ll see you there.

(how weird, as soon as I near my daily target, I somehow switch off from writing mode, even though I have time to write more…)

image credit: http://www.beingll.com/wordpress/?cat=548

What’s your weakness…

Certain foods (ie chocolate, etc) (38%, 3 Votes)
Shopping for hobby stuff (ie photography stuff, craft stuff, etc) (25%, 2 Votes)
Watching TV (ie lazing on the couch all day) (13%, 1 Votes)
PC modding stuff (ie better graphics card, new chassis, etc) (13%, 1 Votes)
Bargains (ie cant resist a bargin even if you dont need it) (13%, 1 Votes)
Partying (0%, 0 Votes)
Jewellery (0%, 0 Votes)
Clothing (ie shoes, bags, etc) (0%, 0 Votes)
Dinners/Take outs (0%, 0 Votes)
Smoking (-2%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 8

I chose shopping for hobby stuff hehe whenever I see something for either card making or photography…I spend! Money sadly doesnt last long with me and I have no restraint! New poll up: collecting.

Nano is going well, but I’m giving you updates on those as I go. I participated in a Write-In yesterday with about 7 other Wrimos but a few of us barely got much writing done for all the chatting haha. I guess the chatting worked as inspiration for some, but for me (since I cannot speak for others), writing a love-scene (it happened to be where I was at the time of the write-in) amongst a cacophony of chatter…not easy! I took a pic or three with my cellphone, sorry they’re blurry thought.

We’re into Week 2 now and the “OMGosh I have to start over! This plot is rubbish” totally bit me this morning. Hard. Le sigh. I’m stuck…my story is written in a Young Adult style thus far, but the plot itself is a little more darker and would appeal to a more mature audience…I dont know how to blend the two

I will resist the urge to Ctrl+A+Del!! I will resist the urge to Ctrl+A+Del!! I will resist the urge to Ctrl+A+Del!! I will resist the urge to Ctrl+A+Del!! I will resist the urge to Ctrl+A+Del!!

I decided to look for some backgrounds for my laptop (which is solely being used for NaNo Novelling at the moment) and found these:

http://www.focalpointgraphicdesign.com/blog/?p=60 (I’m using the second one here)

http://www.yourcre8tivity.com/nanowrimo-progress/nanowrimo-desktop-wallpapers/

http://lunatismo.blogspot.com/2009/10/nanowrimo-desktop-background-calendar.html

http://scarlettarcher.deviantart.com/art/NaNoWriMo-Desktop-Wallpaper-V-66292531

If you’ve made any desktop backgrounds, feel free to drop a link in the comment box! I’d love to see them! Thanks to everyone who’s made backgrounds…I think next year I’ll make up a few myself!