I aten't dead

So I have a folder in my Feedly that titled "Possibly Dead". It's where I put all the blogs that I love reading and don't want to unsubscribe from, but which haven't been updated in over six months. And it's not that I assume the blogger may have died, because that would be creepy and wrong. No, I just assume their blog is dead.

I never used to understand how people could just stop blogging, particularly when they were bloggers who posted really regularly. Because blogging was such a huge part of my life and their lives and it seemed weird that they'd suddenly just...give it up.

And then I basically became one of those people.

I currently have 314 unread posts in my Feedly. And I haven't blogged in months (except on Snark Squad...). The main reason I stopped blogging is that I didn't have anything to say. Which is weird, because I've changed jobs and gone to VidCon and spent three weeks in the US hanging out with a lot of wonderful internet friends and become completely obsessed with Seattle and also Little Miss A is reading Harry Potter(!!!!!!!) and my YouTube channel has like 1,650 subscribers, which is at least 1,400 more subscribers than I ever had here.

I have half a dozen Classics Club books that need to be reviewed, and any number of other things that I could talk about.

And yet.

Admittedly, the main reason why I've been putting off reviewing the Classics Club books is that this is my 1,000th post. And I felt like it needed some kind of recognition. But it felt kind of weird to be celebrating 1,000 posts when my blog is basically on life support.

But finally, I'm doing the thing. Celebrating - albeit in a small way - the achievement. Flexing my typing muscles again.

I aten't dead, friends (yes, that's a Terry Pratchett reference). Blogging may not be a regular thing for me any more, but I *will* do my best to avoid ending up in your Possibly Dead folder.

K xx

Mysterious absences and what causes them

You may have noticed, friends, that I haven't been around these here parts as much as usual in the past few weeks.

The reasons behind this are threefold:

1. 12WBT
Sometimes I feel like exercising and cooking and exercising some more takes up all my time, and by the end of the day? I kind of just want to collapse in a heap and not use my brain.

2. VEDA
Yeah, I don't even know how this happened. I uploaded a video on April 1st, and then a bunch of my friends were all "WE'RE DOING VEDA!!" and I figured that I'd unintentionally started doing VEDA anyway, so I may as well keep going. Of course, given that I'm also on the Snark Squad channel every week for Segue Magic, this means I'm currently posting EIGHT videos a week. Hahahahaha ohgod. It's a lot of videos. And between shooting and editing and watching other people's videos? Yeah, it eats into what little time is left once I finish all that exercising and cooking nonsense.

(But, like, if you want to see me wibbling about books even more than usual, you should probably check out my VEDA videos...)

3. I GOT A FREAKING JOB!!!!!!!!!!
That's right, friends. I found the Holy Grail - a full time job in my field. Okay, so it's only a 12 month contract, but STILL. I start tomorrow morning, and I'm kiiiiiiiiiiiind of terrified because it's been forever since I've had to be a responsible adult on a full time basis. But it'll be FINE. In a terrifying but-I-already-don't-have-time-to-blog kind of a way.

And hey - I have an insanely long commute to get to work, so maybe if I can reach a point where my brain in capable of constructing sentences at like 7.30am, I'll write blog posts on my phone instead! Maybe. We'll see.

I'll get back into the swing of adulthood eventually, so this definitely isn't goodbye. Hell, VEDA will be over in another week and a bit, which will give me at least an extra hour a day to play with. But if I'm not around for a little while? That's why.

What's new with you guys?

K xx

Stuff and things and overexcitement

I've been more than a little absent around here this month. But there's a pretty good reason for it - I've been busy writing 52,000+ words for NaNoWriMo. So I figured seeing as how it's the end of the month, I'd update you on a few things!



If you want to sign up for Vlogmas, you can click here!

What's new with you guys?

K xx

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I had plans for writing my usual weekly update on my trip today. But somehow the day disappeared into a time sucking black hole and now it's 10.15pm and I have to go to work tomorrow, so writing a proper blog post seems way too much like hard work right now. So instead, I'll just tell you that I broke 10,000 words in NaNoWriMo, which is further than I ever thought I'd get. High five, self. High five.

A photo posted by Melbourne on my mind (@melbsonmymind) on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:05am PST

So. What's new with you guys?

K xx

Update all the updates

Sooooo. It's been a while since I've talked about anything besides books and movies, huh? I guess that means it's time to give you guys a few updates on some stuff that's happening...

1. WE FINISHED ANGEL OMG
Yes, a couple of weeks ago, we officially posted our very last Angel recap over on Snark Squad. Since then, we've wrapped things up and, while I still have one more video to make on my own channel because Lor and Sweeney were dirty cheaters and changed the rules after I'd made my wrap-up videos, we are FINISHED with the Buffyverse. Which is crazy exciting.

But don't fret - you'll still see plenty of me over on Snark Squad. We're nearing the end of season 1 of Supernatural, and I'm working on TWO super secret projects over there as well. One will launch next week, while the other won't go live until October. But we've already started writing because we're weirdos like that.

2. I'M GOING TO ENGLAND OMG
That's right, I've booked a plane ticket and I'm heading to Old Blighty for three weeks in September! Well. More like two and a bit weeks in England and five or six days in Portugal, but whatever. It's pretty damned exciting either way. There will be all kinds of family shenanigans, and I plan on catching up with/meeting some of my favourite people. It's going to be pretty interesting, I suspect. Especially as I haven't been to the UK in 12 years, and on that particular occasion I spent all of about six hours in London!

3. I JOINED MEDIAVENGERS OMG
So after an increasing amount of weirdness and insanity on Tumblr, my BFF Kim decided that she was going to move MediAvengers to Blogger and reinvent it. And she asked me to join her, which UM DUH. So you can now find me over there on the regular, being all meta about the media pieces that Kim creates around Marvel Cinematic Universe events and characters wheeeeeee. No, but seriously. Check it out. It's pretty cool.

4. I'M GOING TO CANBERRA OMG
Not QUITE as exciting as some of the other news in this post, but Mum and I are heading up to Canberra next weekend for a few days to catch up with people and meet new babies and probably freeze to death. And to go to the bakery in Holbrook, because that's pretty much the only reason to spend seven hours on the Hume Highway...

5. I HAVE A JOB UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR OMG
Admittedly, it's only one day a week, but that's better than zero days a week! And a year working in the one place definitely looks better on my CV than two months or four months, so YAY.

6. I FINALLY FINISHED WATCHING CHARMED OMG
It only took me the better part of seven months to get through eight seasons!! And one of these days, I'll actually get around to blogging about seasons 4-8 to fit in with the ones I've already done... But for now? I've very happily moved onto Friday Night Lights. Although I don't think I'll be sharing All The Thoughts about that one. Mostly because it seems far too much like hard work!

So. What's new with you guys?

K xx

TTT - Top Ten Spring TBR List

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

Today's topic is the books that are on our TBR list for spring. Or, you know, autumn if you live all the way down here in the southern hemisphere like I do! I'm sticking with new releases, because if I included stuff that's already been published, there's no way I'd be able to keep it to just ten. (All cover images from Goodreads)

1. The Thousand Dollar Tan Line - Rob Thomas

I am SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK. I mean, Veronica Mars novels??? That follow on from the (wonderful) Veronica Mars movie??? What more could you want!! 

2. Fairwil - Alysia Gray Painter

While this isn't due for publication until June, Alysia's been dropping hints about having ARCs ready in late spring, so I'm totally counting it. And I am SO EXCITED OMG MORE FAIR AND MORE GOMERY AND MORE DIVING BOARD AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor

I can't wait to see how this series finishes, and I'm still sulking that I didn't get approved for an ARC.

4. We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

I've heard excellent things about this from friends who were lucky enough to get ARCs. I'm excited to finally get my hands on a copy! 

5. Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong

I love Kelley Armstrong's books, and I'm pretty intrigued by this new series.

6. The Girl with the Wind-up Heart - Kady Cross

I haven't always been the biggest fan of this series - I love steampunk but this sometimes seems like a modern novel set in the 19th century just for the sake of pretty dresses - but I'm still looking forward to reading the last book in the series to see how it all ends. 

7. Stolen Songbird - Danielle L. Jensen

One that was on my list of debuts for 2014. The world sounds AWESOME, and I'm really excited about reading it. 

8. What I Thought Was True - Huntley Fitzpatrick

I read My Life Next Door last week and absolutely loved it. So I'm really excited about another Huntley Fitzpatrick book being published so soon! 

9. Love Letters to the Dead - Ava Dellaira

A really interesting sounding concept. I can't wait to see if it's as good as it sounds! 

10. Pointe - Brandy Colbert

A thriller-y thing involving ballet? Uh, YES PLEASE.

What's on your autumn (spring) TBR list?

K xx

On finishing something big

A rather momentous thing happened on Snark Squad this morning: we published our VERY. LAST. BUFFY RECAP.

It's been a long time coming - our first Buffy post went live on 1 July 2012, so there are children in the world that can walk and sort of talk now that were still foetuses when we started this adventure. But it started a couple of weeks before that with an email from Lor that said (among other things) "So. I'd like to work on a project with you for the Snark Squad if you have some free time in the upcoming weeks."

See the part where it says "weeks"? Yeah. There was a follow up email in which we discussed what style we were going to use, and Lor wrote "Episode by episode, LOL, no." We went in planning to recap three episodes per post. That plan lasted approximately two minutes, and we rapidly reached the point where we were writing somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 words PER EPISODE. Multiply that by 144, and you're talking about far more words than were in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...

It wasn't always an easy process. There were days when we had colds, work deadlines, assignments, and Real Life Trauma to deal with. There were days when we were on holidays and had to go out of our way to locate internet access in order to comment. There were days when the episodes were painful to watch and we procrastinated as much as possible over writing/commenting on posts.

And then there was the conflict that came from certain portions of our readership disagreeing with the way we saw the actions of various characters. I already commented on that in vlog form, but things got to the point where we were forced to block someone from commenting. It's not something we wanted to do, but it's something that unfortunately became necessary. It's had ongoing fallout, where we've been called petty and immature and no better than kindergarteners stamping our feet for attention. And all for not seeing a fictional character in the same way as someone else.

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At the end of the day, people are entitled to think whatever they want about fictional characters. Ship what you want, love who you want, hate who you want. But expecting others to see things exactly the way you do is ridiculous. Instead of name calling, engage in a discussion. Tell me why you love the character, why you see their actions in a different way, why you think a scene is brilliant that I thought was ridiculous. I might not come around to your point of view, but I'll respect it infinitely more if you Use Your Words and explain things in a rational way than if you just tell me that I'm wrong.

The way I see it, everyone's opinion is worthy of my time and respect, and everyone has a right to express their opinion, whether or not you agree with it. That includes Lor and Sweeney and I.


Luckily, the positives far outweighed the negatives. For the most part, this project was a phenomenal experience. I got to work with two of my favourite people on the planet. I got to rewatch what is still one of my favourite TV shows, even if the project caused me to see events in a different light. I got to interact with the most incredible community, many of whom I now consider friends.

It seems appropriate that on the day we published our last recap, Sarah Michelle Gellar did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. A huge number of the questions she was asked were about Buffy, and it warms my heart to see that after all these years, she's still so passionate about the show and the role that she played and, indeed, the impact that the show had on HER life.

Whatever you think of the show or its characters, the fact remains that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a huge impact on an entire generation, and that while the costumes and the make up may date, many of the concepts that the show deals with do not. This project moved Snark Squad into new territory. It took us a while and a few battles, but we found our Scooby Gang and have come out the other side smiling at the giant gaping hole before us with the knowledge that now we're free.

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So to any of you who've ever read or commented on a Buffy post, THANK YOU. We honestly couldn't have done it without you, and I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to have been a part of this experience. Here, have a tackle hug:

K xx

Movie Monday: The "What I'm excited about in 2013" edition

It's the very last day of 2012, and that can only mean one thing: it's time for me to Kermit flail with fangirly excitement about movies that are coming out in 2013!!

(Note: yes, a good chunk of these have already been released in the US. Australia is behind the times, yo.)

The Life of Pi

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I haven't read the book, and with any luck I'll get the chance to do so before I see the movie. Based on the trailer, this is going to be fairly extraordinary.

The Silver Linings Playbook

I haven't really liked Bradley Cooper in anything since Alias. I'm hoping this is the movie that's going to change that. It looks pretty awesome. Plus, it stars Jennifer Lawrence, who I not-so-secretly want to be my best friend. 

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

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I mean, come on. This movie looks freaking amazing, in a completely terrible sort of a way. You can't tell me you don't want to see Jeremy Renner playing the medieval baby of Jason Bourne and Dean Winchester. 

Cloud Atlas

This one is either going to be a total mindfuck or a truly astonishing piece of cinema. Again, I've not read the book, and am hoping I get the chance to before it hits theatres. Tom Hiddleston recommended it on Twitter though, so it must be pretty good! 

Iron Man 3

Excuse me while I watch the trailer for the hundredth time and send fangirly emails to Kim. I honestly don't think there's any way it can suck. I mean, it's Robert Downey Jr playing Tony Stark playing Robert Downey Jr playing Tony Stark. It's like Inception, only less confusing and with more superheroes.

The Great Gatsby

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I'm actually a little hesitant about this one, mostly because I'm not really enjoying the use of modern music over the trailers that have been released. BUT it worked for Moulin Rouge, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see...  At least I have the advantage of not having read the book a hundred thousand times, so I won't be upset if certain details are left out!

The Wolverine

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. I don't particularly care what it's about, I'm just psyched to have another X-Men movie coming out. And Hugh Jackman is always brilliant as Wolverine. 

Much Ado About Nothing

Whedon does Shakespeare in secret on the cheap with all his favourite actors? YES PLEASE OMG THIS NEEDS TO COME OUT LIKE RIGHT NOW. I mean, if nothing else, I want to see it because Wesley and Fred will finally get their happy ending! Also? Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Sean Maher, Tom Lenk, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker?? It's a Who's Who of the Whedon-verse.

Thor: The Dark World

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As if anyone is surprised to see this on here. I loves me a Marvel movie, and considering this one costars Tom Hiddleston, adding it to the list of things I'm excited about was a no-brainer. ESPECIALLY when The Ninth Doctor is the villain of the movie! 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I can't wait to see how they handle the giant clockface that is the arena in this one! I just wish we didn't have to wait so freaking long for it to come out, you know?? 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

HOLY CRAP, YOU GUYS. After the ending of An Unexpected Journey, how can you NOT be excited about this movie?!?!?! I just...I mean...Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug? Having conversation with Martin Freeman?? It's going to be made of win. Plus, DWARFMITAGE.

Basically, it's another year of sequels and comic book movies! I can't wait. What are you excited about seeing in 2013?

K xx

I. Am. Done.

You guys. YOU GUYS. I. AM. DONE!! With what? Well, I just handed in my last assignment (more like two - we had to build a database and then create a manual for it) for the semester. *flail*

Excuse me while I take this opportunity to celebrate by making use of ridiculous gifs that I have saved to my hard drive but have until now had no use for:

Aaaaaaaand in the course of using those gifs, I've just introduced you to pretty much all my favourite things on the planet. There you have it - my personality in a nutshell!

In other news, this arrived in the post today:

That's right, kids. IT'S THE VERY LAST DISC OF THE X-FILES. I have finally - FIIIIIIIIIIINALLY - made it to the end!! I'm kind of relieved too. I was starting to think it would never be over...

I think I'm going to take a break from the late 90s/early 2000s TV for a while (I've also been rewatching Dark Angel in the past month or so, not to mention watching Buffy for Snark Squad), but don't fret. I've already added Sliders to my Quickflix queue, so Operation Rewatch ALL the 90s Shows is still a go. I just need a little break to watch something that doesn't contain pagers and mobile phones the size of a brick!

So. What's news with you guys??

K xx

101 in 1001 #18

It's been a while, but I've finally crossed something else off the list! Except that this time, it was completely and utterly outside of my control - this one was all you guys.

Yes, I've officially reached 100 followers, and I couldn't be more thrilled. So thank you, to each and every one of you for reading and commenting and generally being awesome. A special thank you to Pretzel Thief, for making my 29th birthday complete by getting my follower number off 98, where it had been stuck tormenting me for months!!. And another special thank you to Fire Fairy for getting me over the line! :)

I love you all muchly! <3
K xx

Things that are awesome

1. I received a (two week early) birthday present from my BFF Kat in the post today. I would take a photo of it for you, but....... Anyway, it's a bag from Mushy Wear and I love it!! It's the perfect size for uni notebooks without looking like a boring book bag.
2. We heard from the insurance company today, and I should have a replacement camera within a week!! I'm super-excited about it. It looks like it's going to be the next model up from my old camera, which comes with more megapixels, higher ISO capability, and full video. It's still an entry level model, but a brand new camera is not to be sneezed at! I'll make sure to take photos of my awesome new bag when the camera turns up :)
3. THE DALEKS ARE COMING BACK IN SERIES 7. And not just the Daleks. ALL the Daleks.
4. Discount Easter eggs at the supermarket.

That last one has nothing to do with anything else. It's just awesome. Wouldn't you agree, David Tennant?

I rather thought you would!

What's been awesome for you recently?
K xx

News. Of the exciting variety

You ever have one of those days where everything just seems to go RIGHT? Yesterday was one of those days. Okay, so I tried to comment on a bunch of blogs that use Disqus, and it decided it hates me and ate all my comments. And the comments I wrote going "ARGH, IT ATE MY COMMENT!!" That part wasn't so awesome. But then when I bitched about mentioned it on Twitter, the co-founder of Disqus tweeted me to say that they'd look into it. #reasonswhyTwitterisawesome

Some books that I'd ordered online and forgotten about arrived. WHEEEEEE - PRESENTS!! (That I paid for but that's totally not the point!) So now when I run out of library books, I have a nice little stash waiting for me. Plus, yesterday was Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. If you've been here for a while, you'll remember that Charlie D and I go waaaaaay back and that he's one of my favourite authors. So yesterday afternoon when Penguin Australia were tweeting pictures of the covers and you had to say which cover was from which book for the chance to win a copy of the book in question, I jumped at the chance. And scored myself a free copy of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Which is completely awesome because I've always wanted to read it but have never been able to find a copy in a bookstore.

But the biggest news came in the form of an email I received yesterday morning.

"Dear K-,
Congratulations, you have been offered a place at ___ University in 1st Semester 2012"

That's right, kids. I'm going back to uni again! I enrolled online today, and it's all official. Classes start in just over two weeks. 18 months from now, I'll have a Masters degree and will be qualified as a librarian!!

I'm crazy excited about it. I wanted to be a librarian from about the time I was seven until somewhere during high school when I decided that archaeology sounded like more fun. (It's not.) So really, I'm just getting back on my original career path. With a few major little scenic detours along the way.

And if you know me at all, you'll know already who my librarian inspirations for the future are:

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And how could you go wrong with inspirations like that??

Off to buy a lot of tweed,
K xx

Amazingness

A week or so ago, my wonderful bloggy BFF Kim asked on Twitter if anyone wanted a free blog redesign. I did a Kermit flail in my chair, and immediately stuck my hand up. By which I mean "sent her a reply that basically said "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" and hoped like hell", because I'm pretty sure she couldn't see me sticking my hand up from all the way across the Tasman.

With the directions "something fun and kind of bluey-greeny. Hey, that reminds me of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey and now my brain's in a David Tennant place, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, DOCTOR WHO IS AWESOME!!!!!", she came up with a spectacular design that I adore. Which is to say that she's amazing, and didn't get exasperated when I sent her emails that said "HAHAHAHA, I totally didn't realise that greeny bit at the top was a map of Australia! Now can you make the bluey bit lighter?"

So if you're using a reader/subscribed by email, stop by and check it out!

A huge, enormous thank you to Kim for all her hard work, and for also being fluent in Whovian. I think it made things a lot easier for both of us!! ;) <3 <3 <3 Also, if you're not reading her blog about life in New Zealand, you should. Homegirl is hilarious.

Anyone else want Kim to redesign their blog? Go here. Like, right now.

What do you think?
K xx

Movie Mondays: Boxing Day edition

What with Christmas shenanigans going on pretty much non-stop between Thursday night and last night, I didn't get a chance to sit down and watch any movies this week. Which is a shame, because I had grand plans to celebrate the 10th (ARGH I FEEL OLD NOW) anniversary of the release of The Lord of the Rings. Okay, technically it's just the tenth anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, but that's totally not the point. Needless to say, if I didn't have the time to watch one movie, I didn't have the time to watch NINE hours of hobbity, elfy, dwarfy, wizardy, gobliny, Gollumy roaming-about-the-country-side-ness.

That said, have you guys SEEN the trailer for The Hobbit?????????

*flails with excitement*

Ahem. Boxing Day in Australia marks the start of the summer blockbuster season. So needless to say, there's quite a bit coming out soon that I can't wait to see. And in researching what's coming out soon that I can't wait to see, I got a little carried away. So just for a change, I present you with a list.

What I'm stupidly excited about seeing in 2012:

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- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. It doesn't come out here until 5th January, and I'm indescribably cranky about having to wait that long.
- The Adventures of Tintin. I was a MAJOR Tintin fan when I was in late primary school. I think mostly because he got to roam around the world doing cool stuff whereas I had to sit through hours and hours of maths and PE and Latin. SNORE. The screenplay for the movie comes courtesy of Stephen Moffat (head writer for Doctor Who) and Edgar Wright (writer and director of Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs the World). It's directed by Stephen Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and stars (the voices of) Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. WIN.

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- The Muppets. This comes out in Australia on 12th JANUARY. I honestly don't think I can stand to wait that long.
- One for the Money. Yeah, I know it looks pretty ordinary. And it stars Katherine Heigl, who the universe went from loving to loathing basically overnight. But I'm a big fan of the Stephanie Plum books, and I'm curious to see how it turned out.

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- The Woman in Black. Okay, there's no way in hell I'm going to see this one at the movies. I'm going to be watching it on DVD with all the lights on and hiding behind a pillow for most of it. Even the poster for it makes me want to hide behind a pillow and never sleep again. But I'm really curious to see how Daniel Radcliffe does post-Harry Potter.
- The Hunger Games. I read all three of the books in quick succession back in October. And OHMIGOD I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THE MOVIE!!

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- The Avengers. Joss Whedon + Robert Downey Jr + a shit ton of superheroes. How could it not be awesome?
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It looks awesome. And has an incredible cast.
- Men in Black 3. I don't really care if it's the most appalling shit. I loved the first two, so I'll be seeing the third one!

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- The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The joy of having a six year old niece is that you can go to the movies to see kiddy stuff without looking like a creepy weirdo. And this looks AWESOME. Also? Hugh Grant as the voice of the Pirate Captain. Hilarity.
- The Amazing Spiderman. It can't possibly be worse than Spiderman 3, can it?
- American Reunion. Much like MIB 3, I can't not see this.
- Dark Shadows. Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter. You can pretty much tell from that what it's going to be.

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- The Dark Knight Rises. Can't wait to see where Christopher Nolan takes this one!
- Skyfall. I wasn't a huge fan of Quantum of Solace. It seemed to have even less plot than most Bond movies. Plus, I realised as the credits rolled, that I didn't know the names of half the characters. So I'm interested to see if Skyfall is an improvement on that.
- The Hobbit. Obviously, after posting the trailer above. I seriously can't wait for this to come out. I know what I'm doing next Boxing Day, that's for sure!!

What are you guys looking forward to seeing at the movies in 2012?

K xx

101 in 1001 #11

If you're a particularly observant individual, you may have noticed something a little different around my little corner of the internet in the last 24 hours.

After seeing a whole stack of my blog friends make the shift in the past month or so, and after reading a forum on the subject on 20SB last night, I finally took the plunge and bought my own domain name!

That's right - you can now access all your usual Kirsti randomness at melbourneonmymind.com!! I'm ridiculously excited about it. Any old bookmarks should redirect automatically, and the RSS feed should be fine too if you're subscribed through a reader. I hope. Because I have no idea how to fix that particular problem...

ANYWAY. The next episode from my trip will be up soon, so don't fret if you're desperate to hear about my American shenanigans! Have a wonderful weekend, my lovelies. Oh, and don't forget, you've got until tomorrow night to enter my giveaway!!

K xx

Two weeks to go!

So I feel like death warmed up right now. Some time between yesterday afternoon and this morning, I developed a delightful cold. I tried very hard to find you a clip of this, but was unsuccessful so you'll just have to read the quote instead. It pretty much sums up my life at the moment:

"I'm fine, my nose was just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out."
Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother (season 2, episode 11. And thanks to Lauren for putting that quote as her Facebook status and reminding me of its existence!!)

Anythesecoldandflutabletsaren'tworking, it took me a while to realise that it's two weeks today until I head off to the US. OH. MY. GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. That is so insanely soon!

How could I not use an excited Jake Gyllenhaal GIF?? 

Okay, so I'm pretty much all organised in terms of booking stuff. I've got all my flights sorted. All my hotels are organised. I have a new dress for Megan's wedding (two, in fact!). I'm filling in my visa waiver form thingy and writing this at the same time, because even though my head is filled with snot, I'm awesome at multitasking. (Incidentally, I *really* want to know if anyone ever answers "Yes" to the question about whether you've ever been involved in espionage, terrorist activities or genocide...)

But I hadn't really realised that it was so SOON, you know? So now I'm all crazy excited and thinking of all the stuff I still have to do before I go, like get my hair cut so I don't look *quite* so much like a crazy person with two inches worth of split ends. And buy a 50mm prime lens because I just got my bond back from the real estate agent and I feel rich it'll definitely come in handy while travelling. And buy 500 packets of Tim Tams because I promised them to everyone and now have to deliver. And actually, you know, PACK.

Obviously, I'm not even remotely excited by the prospect of a 15 hour plane flight and a millionty six hour layover in LAX (the world's most boring airport) before I can board my flight to Chicago. But once the torment of the flight and the subsequent jetlag is over, it's going to be FUCKING AWESOME. I get to hang out with old friends, like Megan and Lyndsy and Annie, who all live in the US and I never get to see them. I get to travel with my BFFs, Kat and Sara (and I'm nearly EXPLODING with excitement about that part of it!). And I get to actually *meet* so many amazing bloggy/Twittery friends, like Lor and Lauren and Nicole and a ton of other people that I can't remember right now.

Okay, so the trip won't be QUITE as awesome as it would be if I could (guilt trip alert!) also meet up with Nikki and Bi, but you can't win 'em all (I love you guys - #pleasecometoMelbourneASAPkthxbai)! I'll make up for it by going to a shit ton of museums (that's the new collective noun. I've just decreed it), and going to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, and going to see a show on Broadway, and shopping because the Australian dollar is actually worth MORE than the US dollar for the first time since I was born* and things that cost like $5 in the US cost $25 here and blah blah blahbitty blah, I'm so stuffy, give me a scone. (Sorry. I have seven seasons worth of Buffy quotes in my brain and sometimes they just break out...)

Basically? I'm doing a happy dance around the house. Or at least I would be if I wasn't having periodic fits of hacking up a lung... Now if you'll excuse me, I gave my dog a bath earlier and now he's giving me an "I will cut you" face, so I think I should probably hide for my own safety... o.O

K xx
*I'm pretty sure that's accurate but am too lazy to check, so don't quote me on it...

I-I-I so excited!

(Yes, I just paraphrased Rebecca Black. Deal with it.) You know how for the past however long I've been wibbling on about my trip to the US? Yeah, today I actually did something about it.

I've been looking at flights on and off for a while now, but haven't actually followed through on booking. Until today. Because today I realised that I had a ton of frequent flyer points sitting around gathering dust. So I figured I'd check how many points it would take to fly to the US. Well, I didn't have enough for a return flight, but I did have enough for one way. Course, having enough points doesn't mean that there's a seat available. By some miracle, there WAS a frequent flyer seat available on the day I wanted! So I started looking into flights home again.

Apparently it was my day for bargains, because I found a flight from LA to Melbourne for $800. Sure, I have to fly via Auckland, but for that amount of money, I'll take it! So I've wound up with a return flight to LA for $1100 ($300 worth of taxes on the frequent flyer points flight). Which is almost $1000 less than what I was anticipating having to pay. SCORE!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I still have a ton of stuff to book (like my internal flights, for instance!), but this is a massive step in the right direction.

Hurry the hell up, August. I'm WAY too excited to wait much longer! If you've missed it, here's where I'm going:

Chicago, for the 20SB summit:

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Denver, for Megan's wedding:

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Washington DC with Kat:

New York, with Kat:

Boston, also with Kat:

Source

There isn't enough squeeing in the world to demonstrate my levels of excitement. I have so much geeky fun planned - museums aplenty, a shit-ton of awesome things to photograph, and eating pizza on Beacon Street. (If you get that last reference, you get a million bonus points)

To my American lovelies - anyone know a good website to use for booking domestic flights? Do any of them search the discount airlines???

Also, I'm bringing you all Tim Tams. You're welcome... ;)
K xx

Oh HELLS yeah!!

Yesterday, I discovered this trailer had been released:

I'm ridiculously excited. Also, how much better does this look without the pouty presence of Keira Knightley, the Human Praying Mantis????

How long is it until May?????

K xx