“Beware the Ides of March”, Mrs. Johnson said.

Our due date for the second research paper. Yuck. It seems like I just finished with my “Joy Luck Club” paper! This year is the first time the Junior class has had two research papers. In the past, juniors have had one paper, discussing historical and thematic tie-ins with a novel. This year, we have one paper for the English department, discussing literary criticism, and one paper for the History department, discussing Percy knows what. I still don’t quite get what we’re doing, but I’m guessing that we have to talk about an element of American society and culture and its effect on history, or vice versa. Arg.

Priscilla’s Top Ten Research Paper Topics They’ll Probably Never Let Me Write:

10. I Heard it was a Lone Gunman: Three Decades of Kennedy Assassination Theories

9. “In the Name of Free Soil, I Will Punish You!”: The Real Abraham Lincoln

8. Al Gore’s Internet

7. From Rags to Riches: A Brief History of People Who Are Disgustingly Rich

6. The Salem Witch Trials: A Religion Pokes Itsself in the Eyeball

5. Terry Pratchett: Mocking History, Society, and Literature in General

4. Like Father, Like Son: A History of Moronic Father/Son Presidents, from the John Adamses to the George Bushes

3. The Impact of The Beatles on All Music in General

2. Cruel and Unusual Punishment: A History of High School Student Abuse

1. The Space Race: Kicking Commie Behind on the Final Frontier

Hurrah! The results of the Golden Globes! Much applause to Moulin Rouge for winning “Best Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical”. Kudos as well to “A Beautiful Mind” (best motion picture — drama), Russel Crowe (best actor — drama), Gene Hackman (best actor — comedy/musical), Nicole Kidman (best actress — comedy/musical), Jim Broadbent (best supporting actor), Akiva Goldsman (best screenplay — A Beautiful Mind), and Craig Armstrong (best musical score — Moulin Rouge).

Now I’m really motivated to see “Gosford Park”. My mom told me it was fabulous. It must be, to beat “A Beautiful Mind”, “Lord of the Rings”, and “Moulin Rouge” for “Best Director”. I also want to see “No Man’s Land”, a Bosnian film. I was certain that “Amelie” would win “Best Foreign Film”!

All in all, very pleasing results. Hurrah!

Elfwood’s crusade against Harry Potter fanart seriously bothers me. I respect his right to define what fantasy is and isn’t, as Elfwood is privately owned, but I just wish I could understand his logic. Quite obviously, the series is fantasy, but Thomas doesn’t seem to care. I was looking around Monica’s Loth gallery (which has already been ransacked) and noticing that nearly all the images they removed were Harry Potter-themed. Some of her pictures have absolutely nothing to do with fantasy, much less “high fantasy”, as Thomas now requires (such as La Belle Dame Sans Merci and the masks). Other pictures are about fantasy but don’t show it, such as Claudia. Others only fit within fantasy because she says they do, for example the vampire, Hechicera, Louis, Sierva Maria de Todos los Angeles… I could go on. It seems to me that the only borderline images Elfwood kept were saved because the subject had an unusual skin color.

From what her artwork shows, Draco Malfoy has the same fantasy quotient as Aragorn; pardon the unintentional double-meaning. Legolas and Galadriel qualify simply because you can barely see pointed ears under their hair. If Thomas wants me to start drawing ears on my Harry Potter characters, I’d be more than happy to. I guess I’d be safer with my HP art in FanQuarter and my Discworld art in Loth. ::hisses::

I’m actually looking forward to seeing what images of mine they decide to destroy. In a grim, bitter, ironic sort of way, at least. My sphinx? My house elves? My “Chamber of Secrets”, which has a sword and a phoenix? Mad-Eye Moody, who reeks Fantasy from every misshapen pore? Harry and Cho, suspended on broomsticks? Lavender and Parvati, surrouded by wandlight? Wormtail, summoning the dark mark? This is going to be interesting. Ditto with Kell. A bunch of her images are undisputably Fantasy, but they will most likely be removed simply because they’re Harry Potter related. I just dare them to try anything with Dumbledore and Fawkes, Hagrid and Norbert, Harry and Fawkes, Harry and the dragon, Hermione in Potions, or Harry playing Quidditch.

That’s frightening… a few minutes ago, I heard a few shots ring out. Sure, it sounded like gunshots, but I wasn’t sure. Up until now, I had myself convinced that they were fireworks, despite them not sounding quite like fireworks, but now I hear the sound of an ambulance. Yipes. This stuff doesn’t happen where I live…

Now that’s just typical of me. I was looking over the list of nominees for the Golden Globes, oozing blatant favoritism for Moulin Rouge, when I noticed that the song “Vanilla Sky” from the movie of the same title was written by Paul McCartney. Now I find myself torn between “Vanilla Sky” and “Come What May” when I haven’t even heard the song yet. Goof. ::goes off to download::

I’m Rasheequa.

I just got back from Cherise’s birthday party. We all met at Hockaday, then Cherise drove us to her house, which is way out in the boonies. We ordered pizza and watched movies. Two out of three of the movies I just watched to figure out what in the world everyone was talking about. First, we watched Trainspotting, which was highly disturbing, as every time I saw Ewan McGregor, I’d think of Christian in Moulin Rouge. Very jarring. After that, it was Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I was so amused at the point when the guy announces he got the role of Angel in RENT. I thought to myself: “but Angel is supposed to have feminine features! He’s not girly enough to be Angel!”. Then I remembered that that character in the movie was played by a woman. I started laughing hysterically, leaving Cherise, Chloe, and Chungy wondering what on earth was going on in my head. I wish I could say that I liked Hedwig and Trainspotting, but they just didn’t really appeal to me. Bah. Anyway, after that, we watched Josie and the Pussycats, which was at least amusing. I love Alan Cumming. So that’s my evening.

This may be a bit of a tacky subject to follow that last entry, but what else was I going to post, quiz results?

Sannali posed the question of what would happen in a deathmatch between Bun Bun and The Luggage. So follows my thought processes:

Idea One: The Luggage would win, as sapient pearwood isn’t truly living, and therefore can’t be killed.

Idea Two: What about Bun-Bun’s unfathomably destructive weapons arsenal? He could bomb the Luggage.

Tangent: Yeah, but the Luggage wouldn’t die. It would just be a bunch of sapient toothpicks.

Tangent: Does that count as dead?

Tangent: It certainly gives Bun Bun the victory.

Idea Three: Wait. The original question was if Bun Bun attacked Rincewind, then the Luggage had to defend him. Obviously, if Bun Bun attacked Rincewind, Rincewind would be a distant spot on the horizon in almost no time flat. The Luggage would follow him, essentially forfeighting the fight. Bun Bun would win.

Tangent: Yes, but would the Luggage forfeight that easily? The canon suggests that he’d stay and fight Bun Bun.

Provoking Question: How easy is a mini lop to swallow?

Memory Tester: Has Bun Bun been eaten before?

Recollection: Yes, Aylee ate Bun Bun early on. If Aylee can eat Bun Bun, the Luggage surely can.

Tentative Conclusion: So that’s it! The Luggage would eat Bun Bun.

Counterpoint: Yes, but this is Bun Bun we’re talking about. Bun Bun survives everything. He’d probably get lost in the transdimensional portals the Luggage seems to offer, eventually turning up somewhere in the L-Space folds of Unseen University’s Library.

Which leads us to another thought-provoking question: Who would you rather not fight against? An enraged minilop with a switchblade or a maddened Librarian with a badge?