Must…study...nrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Today I had the greatest day because my little daughter was born into the world at 9.03 AM =) just came from the hospital unfortunately I have still work to do so I couldn't stay.
But yes, best day ever.
Aww, kudos to you!
if you think this is dumb, no need to be here and ruin it for the people who do. and there was a korean character. it was in the manga, till korea got it's panties in a knot over being offended by the stereo type.
I've liked the little bits I've seen. the characters are cute. the cosplay fanism is another story. i stay the hell away from all that.
Thanks, captain usopp.
The fans are both good and bad; the bad ones are typical fangirls, but the good ones are great to be around; I've even seen history teachers on the LJ community that use Hetalia as a teaching tool for kids who struggle in history.There are plenty of fans of the series, including myself, who are history enthusiasts and truly enjoy the series for all that it offers.
It seems to me that most people commenting here are cooking the series based on their own feelings and perceptions of stereotypes, and even bits of what they've seen/heard of the series instead of the series as a whole…
Why, even in the context of an obnoxious bishonen show, would you ever depict Russia as anything other then a massive hairy bearded man.
…without bothering to read up on the back round of the series or the characters. Might I also point out that it is an aim of the series to stereotype without offending anyone.
Hetalia does not only deal with stereotypes. Each character, while personifying a country, also reflects the citizens and ideals of that country, while being stereotyped to an extent (obviously the stereotypes will differ according to the stereotypes of the creator). While what the series covers can be limited, I've never know it to be completely inaccurate when covering a historical event.
As and example, lets look at America (if anyone wants to know about other characters, I'd be happy to educate you).
The United States is represented by:
Alfred F. Jones.
Also the US should be incredibly obnoxious, but incredibly infectiously fun.
While this is essentially true of the character, there is more to him than that. He's friendly, and while he has good intentions, he messes things up by accident sometimes. He considers himself nothing less than the ultimate leader of the world and when he makes fun of you, he tends to smile while he does so. England is like his father, or an older brother, whom he is friends with and can sometime be sentimental over:
http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/531.html
His soft-spoken, often forgotten brother is Canada, who he has always had a good relationship with. He doesn't seem to know it, but he overshadows his brother a lot. Cuba really hates him.
While he is nosy, he also wants to help people, and has expressed this trait from a young age; when England an France were attempting to win his favor, France offered him delicious food and England, who had nothing to offer than could compare, wallowed. Instead of taking the food, young America approached England and ask him, "Are you all right?" He was more concerned about England's happiness than France's gifts.
Does this seem at all and accurate portrayal of the United States to you? If so, I think it would be nice to discuss what the series is about and could be, not what the series should be.
Kind of like what we do with One Piece.
(P.S. I noticed some people have been asking, "Where is/ why isn't there _______?" Himaruya personifies nations as he needs them in his strips, so naturally not every single nation has been personified yet.)
@HiroVoid:
Wait. There's a Little Mermaid 3?
Yeah, Ariel's Beginning. It's on YouTube.
I thought it was pretty good, for a threequel. Loads better than Return To The Sea at least.
I've got a 4th generation iPod nano, and the Apple online guide tells me that I can turn the cover flow off by going to Settings > General > Rotate > Off. However, when I make it to General, there's no 'Rotate' option listed (and it doesn't literally mean rotate the iPod, I tried that). Any ideas on what to do?
Referencing Hetalia now, are we?
(blue-fox)
I'm really sorry to hear that. May he rest in peace, and may you and your family find solace. My condolences.
15 minutes in.
I resolve to look at this year in the most positive light possible, and instead of feeling bitter in assuming that this year can't possibly be as good as the last, I resolve to do everything in my power to make it better, and look back on 2010 and it's fond memories warmly, not bitterly.
Best of luck to everyone!
Happy New Years, all. Here's to another successful year for One Piece and all it's fans.
I actually found that sort of relaxing. It's the kind of thing I could picture hearing in a smoky cafe on a rainy evening. There wasn't too much noise, but all the spaces were filled; I loved the call and response between the singer and the guitar and sax.
Have fun in India. :)
X61BVv6pLtw
I've been wanting to read the russian masters (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky,..) for quite some time now. So I started reading Solzjenitsyn's "The goelag archipel", and haven't read anything like it untill now, it's great.
From what I've read of Tolstoy (pretty much just The Death Of Ivan Ilyich) he's not bad. I've also read Crime And Punishment by Dostoyevsky, it's quite good if a bit lengthy. It's a hard one to read in big chunks.
Nearly done with Chronicle Of A Death Foretold (which I was surprised to find out that I enjoyed) and recently started Frankenstein. Since I got my extended essay topic on Harry Potter approved, I'm continuing my rereading and marking of the first book.
Best summer break I ever had happened this year, and it saddens me that I know it won't ever be replicated. I do have the memories, though, that's an important thing.
For the rest of the world, there was a seemingly equal share of goods and bads (well…maybe a few more bads than goods, but such is human nature to have the most negative things stand out to us in our minds), and as for 2011, I have found that when one expects nothing, on can never be disappointed.
How about Christmas dinner for everyone?
We're having barbecue pulled pork. :)
I already got my class ring (Ultrium, with an emerald, diamonds and an antique finish) and a new coat, and I secretly just completely found out by total accident that my mom signed me up for the class trip to Italy in 2012.
By total accident, mind you.
I am crocheting scarves for two of my friends, and a third got some of my home-made butterbeer with whipped cream and cinnamon.
oh god that vid was amazing XD i shall watch moar tomorrow when its NOT 3:08am XD
an pfft i'd have to live under a ROCK to not know about Mr Potter XD
Glad you liked it. :D
… oh god that'd take forever XD i have hundreds~ XD but how do you put spoiler tags on em?
Do this:
[spoiler]O hai[/spoiler]
only take out all the *
and you get this!:
! O hai
… i gotta ask, what is your sig all about? XD it looks so raaaandom XD
Ever heard of Harry Potter? Sure you have.
There is a glorious musical on Youtube:
wmwM_AKeMCk
that parodies the series, and is put on by a group called Starkid Productions and stars Darren Criss, who is now also on Glee!
The musical was viral in '09, as you can see
what with the view count up to the million threes,
they made a Sequel this past summer, and me
I watch it and loved is and so will thee!
If you give it a chance.
(Perfect opportunity for a poem there, sorry)
Which is where the .gif in my signature is from (the sequel, that is, heh heh). It's Umbridge sneering at Lavender Brown, if you've ever read the series up to book 5.
oh god the amount of pairing pictures i could post here… awe induced stare of yaaay ... it would spam you all into OBLIVION XD
Just remember to put spoiler tags and warnings around all the images you post. :) So long as you do that, post away!
omgawd there's a couples thread?!?!?!?! WHERE?! :3 i've yet to find anythin of the sort durin my rumaging XD
Couples thread!
http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=7245
Welcome to Arlong Park. :D
I confess to not having any idea what to do with my life.
It's frightening. Universities are sending me mail, and every time I see one, I think, "Oh god." Should I go into medical? It's practical, a growing industry, it pays well, people have told me I'd be good at it…but it's not something I want to do. Should I pick history? What on earth could I do with a degree in history? It doesn't pay as well as medical, and will I ever be able to even find a job, anyways.....will I be happy with doing it the rest of my life?
I'm a little afraid that I'm entered into a rigorous program and colleges tell me they're "impressed with my academic achievements" but I still feel like I'm in the dark, in an unfamiliar place. I don't like the dark. It's crushing and I could trip.
Only problem is, if I could just find the damn light switch, maybe I could find my way around the bloody room.
Also, I love my home country and I love its people, but i'd never marry someone from there. Don't know why.
I'm kind of like that, only I refuse to even date a guy who's younger than I am. I just can't. It just feels odd.
I'm getting letters and e-mails from Flagler, and they're my number one private college. Exciting, but nerve-wracking.
Oshawott… Isn't that in Canada somewhere?
You mean Ottawa? XD
Screw these names, I'm nicknaming my Snivy Smugleaf.
I'll be the one singing Bink's Sake over my first born child's cradle.
But seriously, just carefully worded bedtime stories.
I want to tell my kids how important it is to shoot for your dreams and to never give up.
Soda and fruit juice are best left to small portions. If you're really craving soda, drink half fruit juice, half carbonated water. It's fizzy, sweet, and will satisfy your sweet tooth in a way that High Fructose Corn Syrup never could. Unprocessed fruit sugars are able to be processed by the body properly, so they take the urge off your sugar cravings. For me, at least.
Generally, I always urge people to avoid HFCS. It's processed and awful.
I never thought of adding carbonated water. I'll have to try that. Thanks for the advice!
Also, apple juice is the sugariest fruit juice you can get. That is a terrible reccomendation for someone who is trying to lose weight.
Alot of people use fruit juices as a substitute for sodas. It's better than soda, but it's true that it isn't the best; citrus juice from oranges and such may be better for some people.
I'm not focused on losing weight so much as sustaining. I exercise alot, but I'm really bad at eating healthy. While I hardly eat three square meals, I snack in order to sustain myself, but it's usually junk food or whole grain fruit bars. Any advice for healthy, portable snacks?
I can't stay off coffee or soda completely, either; it's the caffeine. I've got it down to a bottle of Coke and hardly a cup of coffee a day, but I still feel like it's too much. I think that over the holidays I'm really going to try cutting down to a bottle of soda a week…
Bit early for a Christmas thread. Is this the earliest one so far?
I already used up my Christmas gifts, sort of; my mom ordered my class ring a couple months ago and that's my big expensive present for the year.
Diamonds and emeralds and Rolex-grade Ultrium, oh my.
I'm crocheting scarves for my friends and it is not going well.
Mugglenet reports the movie made $125.1 million on opening weekend alone in the US, breaking Goblet of Fire's record of $102.7 million. It now sits at number 6 on the list of biggest opening weekends in Box Office history.
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/
Also, they'd doing reshoots of the Epilogue IN-Studio at leavsden so I wonder what Old Hermione's hair will look like? Will they use a Wig, or will Old Hermione have that (awful imho) pixie hair ?
I totally forgot about that. Yeah, I guess they'd just use a wig…..I haven't seen any photos from the reshoot yet, so I don't know if they will or not.
Her new cut is okay, but she had such beautiful hair, I was sad when I found out. :(
I'm a terrible, terrible procrastinator.
To the point where its not even funny anymore.I can sit at my desk for hours on end and not get a single thing done.
For my IB English class, I had a World Lit Paper as an assignment.
We were given nearly 6 months to do it, from the date the teacher assigned it to the due date.
I did in the last 2 hours before handing it in.I suck
The second draft for my World Lit practice Paper is due Monday.
Guess what.
My thesis statement is "In The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, symbolism is communicated through the curtains, Ilyich’s medallion, and the black sack in Ilyich’s dream, and symbolism in The Stranger by Albert Camu is shown through cigarettes, the story of Salamano and his dog, and light."
I have not even read The Death of Ivan Ilyich yet.
I hate myself sometimes
Saying Harry is on the same intellectual level as Hermione is just dumb ok. Christ she was so smart she used a magic necklace to allow her to cover several other subjects on top of the standard set she had chosen.
Now obviously Harry is smart, and sometimes he does play the brains of the outfit, but to put them both on par is delusional.
@Cream of chicken
What the hell? Am I suppose to respond to this in some shape or form?
Yes, she
used a magic necklace to allow her to cover several other subjects on top of the standard set she had chosen.
The same magic necklace had several duplicates and could be acquired simply by sending an application to the Ministry. No doubt she either a) read about it in a book somewhere (in a word, researched he problem like any logical person would) or b) went to McGonagall with the problem.
Most likely b) because she's quoted on Chapter 6 page 98 of the American version as saying:
"I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."
That's not to say Hermione isn't smart, but on the off chance Harry would ever feel the urge to take every subject Hogwarts offers, I'm sure he'd just take the issue up with a teacher, like Hermione did. That was not Hermione's most shining moment in the series, but my point is that Harry would have solved the problem the same way.
The were not on par in the 6th challenge in Sorcerer's Stone; Harry would not have made it through Snape's logic puzzle without Hermione. But Harry can keep up with her at times, if not in their classes then in problem solving, when he puts his mind to it.
What the hell? Am I suppose to respond to this in some shape or form?
I thought your comparison was extreme, in this context, was what I was getting at.
But was the Ron character in this movie scaled back depthwise because of the lesser acting abilities of him when compared to Radcliffe or Watson?
I'm not sure. I though Rupert was at his best in this movie, while Dan and Emma were as comfortable as ever. They might have put extra emphasis on Hermione's character because she was around more than Ron, or to fill up space. I thought there were some equivalents; Hermione with the symbolic meaning behind Obliviate, Harry with looking back into his cupboard before leaving, and Ron with the radio.
Less Ron with the radio, though. It did focus more on Harry and Hermione, but I'm not sure if that was due to acting or what I said before.
That's what I mean. Hermione pulls the majority of the weight when confronted with a problem, but when she can't devise a solution, Harry's got her back. There's never a case of Hermione failing to think of something, but refusing Harry's advice or input because he's not quick to grasp things or is stupid. It may have happened with Ron though, somewhere in the series.
In spite of the romance stuff I always thought that their working relationship would be more believable progressing into a romantic one than the adolescent impulse thing with Cho and Ginny.
She did consider Harry's "Malfoy is a Death Eater" theory before deciding that she didn't like it, and I recall her completely shooting down one of Ron's "Snape is evil" assumptions.
True. She was always there for him, especially when he and Ron would fight, and he was just thankful towards her as a friend. And Ginny came out of nowhere.
I don't even ship this couple and I'm saying this.
I read the books.
Hermione and Ron came out of nowhere.
Harry and Hermione were both on the same page intellectually and worked well as partners. I'm not a guy who favours romance blossoming from a relationship like that, but it's far more believable than what happened with Ron, and the whole issue of Ron threatening to break up with Harry earlier over this stuff…just seems silly.
I think Ron liked Hermione for a while and once it became obvious to her (maybe like Goblet of Fire, with the whole Yule Ball business), he started to grow on her, but it did take a backseat to the story and then exploded in the last two books.
Ron's always been at least a little jealous of Harry, but I think the possibility of losing Hermione to him was too much. The locket didn't help. When you see the movie, you might get a little bit of Ron's reasoning, but it's certainly an overreaction due to the locket.
Ginny and Harry sort of puzzled me though. I didn't hate it, and I know that Ginny was crushing on Harry from age ten, but it just seemed really sudden on Harry's part. Yeah, Ginny's cool, and Ginny was cool in book 5, and it's like he just suddenly realized that she was there.
"I've turned 15 and have just discovered girls exist, hormones, hormones, hormones!!!!"
This is probably why.
Then again, Harry's impulse control with girls has never been great, I mean didn't he like Cho Chang just because she's pretty
Like George Bush and Albert Einstein. lol
Harry's not dumb, he just doesn't apply himself. Smarted than Bush, I'd wager, Bush wouldn't stand a snowman's chance in hell against Voldemort and Snape would tear him apart in a second.
There was a moment in the movie where Hermione had a revelation about The Tale of the Three Brothers and when she shared it with Harry, he was actively debating it with her and they were certainly on the same page. Because he was applying himself to the problem presented and was seriously trying to come up with a solution.
No, not stupid, just unmotivated, at times.
I'm pretty sure that scene is movie only. I don't recall Dumbldore ever taking an interest in Harry's love life in the books.
It is. HBP was so cluttered with romance scenes, I think they were just trying to stick another reference to it in there…or they were trying to make Dumbledore out to not be strictly business-like when it came to the lessons.
These parts were among my most favourite in book 7, so I'm curious, what was wrong with them in the movie? (seeing it tonight)
I don't think there was anything wrong with them, but it seemed like Hermione was more loving towards Harry in a romantic kind of way (and maybe vice versa). There were moments where, if you hadn't read the books, you might think, "Oh, looks like she could go for Harry instead, I see the signs."
The dance scene was extremely cute, I thought, possibly even more so because Harry cannot dance.
Not even a little.
Saw it Thursday at midnight.
I loved it. They stuck to the actual storyline really well and still had enough time to stick little extra things in; two and a half hours is the perfect amount of time. The tone is definitely more dark than even HBP, but in a…satisfying way. Like you were waiting for it to finally reach that point.
Rupert was the best actor out of the trio, no lie.
Dobby moved me to tears, call me soft.
Bellatrix and Hermione in Malfoy Manor was pretty frightening. The whole movie lived up to it's PG-13 rating.
All the scenery was gorgeous, yes
My favorite was when they told The Tale of the Three Brothers; they animated it in a unique kind of way that was really artistic and for a little while there I was so focused on the story I forgot where I was, and that I was watching a Potter movie. It was spectacular in bizarre and grim kind of way.
There were points when things would start to slow or sag, and there's alot of dialogue to get through. Hope for a theater that's completely silent.
In a nutshell, totally worth staying up and only getting 3 hours of sleep, in my opinion.
Question to those who have seen it:
! When Harry and Hermione were fighting Nagini at Godric's Hollow, Harry crashed through a wall into a brightly lit baby's nursery. Was there something else to that that I didn't get? I don't think it was in the book, but it seemed odd that it was in the movie.
Welcome there Mazinken. I remember when Rock was young.
Me and Susie had so much fun?
(Welcome, btw, Mazinken)
I'm procrastinating right now. I have to study for this important biology test tomorrow but I'm watching "The Walking Dead" and eating spaghetti instead.
Me, too. I should be catching up on the work I missed yesterday, or shopping for food and typing up itineraries for tomorrow's movie premier but instead I'm…listening to Fever Ray?
What kind of shit way is that to spend time?
Jeez, it literally gets to a point where I have to wrench myself away from whatever I was doing if I ever want to get any work done.
@RobbyBevard:
(And I think Brave and Monsters Inc 2 are BOTH slated for 2012 currently?)
Correct, and I think that's all they have down right now.
I'm at the end of July.
All that means is that my friends never remember my birthday. :(
because fuck common sense.
Common sense got fucked 402 pages ago.
Better plan: go with it.
