Must Dash. Things Going On. Well..Three Things. Well..Four. Well, Three Things And A Lizard.

Well, here you go. Three things and a lizard.

People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect... but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly.... timey-wimey.... stuff.


Well, yeah. There is a new Doctor Who, the Eleventh Doctor, to be more precise, and for the first time in the 3 incarnations of the character I have followed over the last couple of years, I am a little nervous. He looks so...young. And blond. And like a posher, preppier, prettier version of the Tenth Doctor. His vibe just isn't doing it for me, either. And above all, I am going to miss David Tennant unbelievably. But still, I suppose now is a good time as any to welcome and accept Change of all magnitudes. So. Let's all go say Hi to the new guy! Or just sit here and wave, or something. Even if you have no idea what I'm talking about. It's only polite, after all.

Charity, My Foot

So the 6th Form kids in my school organized a donation thingie of sorts to help out the people in a Country That Shall Not Be Mentioned, in aid of an Organization That Shall Remain Unnamed. And I was more than happy to walk around with the little money-collecting bottle and shaking it under people's noses for a day. And we managed to raise over RM2000 in just 3 days, which was quite awesome. And then we placed a call to the Newspaper Which Sponsors The Efforts Of The Said Organization That Shall Remain Unnamed, and they told us that RM2000 was nice and all, but it just wouldn't cut it if we wanted our school's name and profile put in the paper. And so they told us to keep the money. And they actually laughed.And I wondered what on earth having our name featured in the paper had to do with the fund-raising. Turns out our School Principal insisted on making as much money as possible to guarantee that the school would get its own feature in the paper, preferably in the weekend spread or something. So it wasn't really honest charity at any point, but just a stunt to get some positive publicity for the ten million-dollar school. And I am pissed at the school principal, and at the Newspaper Which Sponsors The Efforts Of Said Organization That Shall Remain Unnamed, and at my schoolmates for so readily complying with the vile wishes of the school's head of administration. I mean, what is she going to do, expel the whole lot of us? Meh.

My name is Dean Winchester. I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women.

According to Internetdom, today (or yesterday, technically) was Dean Winchester's 30th birthday! Yeah I know he isn't actually an actual person, but he is like, one of my favourite fictional characters of All Fricken Time, and the man deserves all sorts of mad major props for having survived this long.


Awww look! He anticipates presents.
And look what I got him:


He loves it. He loves it all.

Oh Dean. I'm so glad you're low-maintenance.
I remember the time I first started watching Supernatural, way back in '06, about 6 or 7 episodes into season 1. And I remember even then, knowing in my deepest heart of hearts (and also, to a degree, in my ovaries) that being a Sam-girl simply wasn't and would never be an option, ever. Regardless of whatever would happen in the course of the show. (and it also helps very much that Jensen Ackles isn't all that painful to look at, y'know). But to be fair, I never really gave the other Winchester brother much of a chance. So.

Teh Great Winchester Debate : Sam vs Dean

Yeah. Okay. Dean wins. The end. Bring out the bloody sparkly balloons.

Oh dear, that was mean. Sorry, Sam. Here;

Reasons To Love Sam Winchester
Because it's a sure-fire way to make your brother happy, any day.

1. Jared Padalecki.

2. Jared Padalecki.
3. DIMPLES!
4. He's smart. He went to fictional Stanford and everything, man. You gotta love the Geek.
5. Jared Padalecki.

6. He's sensitive, attentive, and perceptive.
7. He loves his brudder.
8.He's adorable when he gets all PMS-ish.
9. In a real-life situation, speaking honestly and without the judgement-clouding influences of Fanlady Hormones, I'd definitely get along a million times better with Sam than I ever would with Dean.
10. Jared Padalecki.

But today is all about the older Winchester.
Or yesterday, technically. Sorry, dude.
Happy birthday, you bad-ass psychologically/emotionally repressed and extremely hot bastard!

Oh wait! I promised you guys a lizard.


There.


This post has been approved by the Official Dean Winchester Double Thumbs-Up Seal Of Awesomeness.

Here Be Much Fangirling And Many Spoilers.

I guess I should have included Blog More Oftenner in that list of resolutions for 2009. It's all good though, because I never actually leave the Bloggeddy Blog Blog when I claim I'm going to. I tend to sneak off when no body's really expecting it, including myself. But the BAP has been busy with School, which surprisingly isn't that bad now that there are only 15 of us left in my class and we get to go home half an hour earlier and our classroom is all the way up on the 4th floor and it takes teachers absolute centuries to reach us, as a result.
Anyway, this post has been brewing for quite a while now, and I'm thinking it's about time I put it up. It features the only two TV shows I have had the time and the inclination to stomach over the last month or so, and will be done in the same fashion as the Coldplay vs Sigur ros smackdown we had some time last year, if you recall. Once again, I can promise no real intellectual input, no reduction in the amount of whining, bitching or fangirling (although I may be adopting the term "fanlady" as opposed to "fangirl"- I've always thought of myself as a little too sophisticated for the latter), but I can promise that the judging will be based on some very important and very crucial criteria. Let us then quit the waffling and proceed.

The Battle Of The Somewhat Mediocre TV Shows

Heroes Volume 3 vs. Supernatural Season 3
(For the benefit of those not in the know, Heroes is about a bunch of people with special powers who are constantly trying to save New York, and Supernatural is about two insanely hot brothers who go around killing demons and saving people)


1. Quotient Of Pretty


You would assume that Heroes, having way more characters than Supernatural, would naturally also have more Pretty People in their ranks. But your assumption would be wrong (actually you'd probably be right, but on this blog, you're not). We now turn to simple Maths to reveal the Truth of the situation. Truth, by the way, as I have learned in John Keats' classes, equals Beauty, and Beauty equals Truth. Therefore fangirling is a totally intellectual activity of very very noble literary proportions. But I digress. Using the very simple Maths I mentioned earlier; Heroes has about two dozen main characters at any given time, so if we randomly select 10 of them, and then pick out the number of Pretty People present within this 10, you'd end up with say, 6 Pretty People at the most (according to me, anyway). So you're looking at an Average Pretty Quotient of 60%, which is pretty impressive. Now consider Supernatural, which has only two main characters to focus on. And both of them are Pretty. And you don't need Maths to tell you that that makes up a 100% Pretty Quotient. Therefore in the area of Quotient of Pretty, Supernatural pwns.

2. Character Development

Heroes honestly sucked at this in season 3. There was absolutely no sense of connection or continuity, that feeling that you've been watching the same characters grow and change over the last two years. All of them seemed stuck in this sickening rut and were acting far too unlike themselves to be believable. Or maybe it's more because they're being ultra-condensed magnified versions of themselves, which makes them all the more annoying. I wanted to rip Claire's hair out for being such a desperate whiny little brat. I wanted Nathan to go die because I just could not be bothered to try and figure out what his deal was anymore. I barely paid attention to Peter. I absolutely detested what they did to Sylar ; presenting us with the fact that his lust for blood and power, his evil persuasion was only a side-effect of his ability, and not something that could have been deep-seated or innate within his original persona as Gabriel. And this totally robbed the most interesting aspect of one of the most interesting characters and turned him completely BLAH. And as for Mr. Bennett, how much longer is he going to be just the nerdy-looking guy in horn-rimmed glasses who is also an expert assassin and would do anything to protect his best interests and those of his loved ones? He has been all that for three seasons now, would it kill you people to add a different side to him, develop his individual story a little, give him something of his own?
Supernatural fared much better at this, and they probably had an advantage because they only had to develop two people. But to give credit where it is due, for such a mediocre show, they actually did quite a kick-ass job. Mainly because you did get that sense of nostalgia, like, hey look, here are those two extremely pretty guys I've been watching since I was 16, and I now actually care about them and their fate and their choices as opposed to way back in 2006 where all I did was wait for one of them to take his shirt off. Therefore, for eliciting the power of pure emotional connection to the characters, Supernatural pwns again.

I still do that, though. Wait for either Dean or Sam to take his shirt off, I mean. It passes the time during particularly dull episodes.

3. Death Toll

I have bitched about this considerably in previous posts, and I don't need to say it again. But I will. The makers of Heroes have no balls whatsoever when it comes to killing off a character. Either that, or they do kill somebody off, and something very convenient and unexpected comes up to bring whoever it is to life again. You will really have no idea how annoying this is unless you watch the show yourself, truly.And of allllllllll the people they chose to get rid of permanently for once, they had to snuff Adam Monroe. They just had to. He was the only thing that was even slightly fresh or funny (and no body's funny anymore! Jokes don't kill! They are so taking themselves way too seriously).


On average, about 5 people die Horrible deaths on Supernatural, which is lovely. After the trashfest of Heroes, you kinda forget the satisfaction of watching a real good death scene unfold, with the awful screaming and bad effects and everything. Also, the two main Pretty Boys, they die, too. Of course, they always come back, as a result of one brother selling his soul for the other. Literally. But at least with SPN, you know that the miraculous resurrection came with a heavy price, bound to be paid at a later date, and there is always a sense of urgency or dread surrounding the Bringing-A-Winchester-Brother-Back-To-Life Show.
Once again, Supernatural pwns. And yes, I am being very impartial here.

4. Tim Kring vs Eric Kripke

The creators of Heroes and SPN, respectively. Mr. Kripke, for paying attention to the fangirls and throwing in all the little inside jokes from fandom, you is Awesomeness. To Mr. Kring; you didn't listen to what I said about making Milo Ventimiglia grow his hair back. I gave very solid and very well-supported reasons why bringing the Original Peter Petrelli Hairstyle back would spell glory for the show, and I put it out there, I really did. It was on that Facebook group and everything. But did you take heed? Noooooooooooo. Now look what happened! For shame, Kring.

5. Plot

For Heroes, it was really a case of "What plot?". There honestly seemed like there wasn't one, and if anybody actually noticed a proper plot I would be genuinely grateful if you could enlighten me as to what it is, because the season is over and I am very confused. What is this Catalyst? Does anybody know what it is? What formula? Are these words that sounded really fancy and so the writers' put them in so it would all seem very high-brow and science-fictionney? What bloody timeline are we in now? Is it present day, six months ago, 16 years ago, 45 minutes later? Which version of Peter am I looking at at any given time? Future Pete? Present Pete? Past-But-Not-Quite-Yet-Present Pete? The Ghost Of Pete Future? Why doesn't all the carefree time-travelling create a dozen paradoxes and Explodify the universe? What the heck does Arthur Petrelli want?? I know it's something evil and of world-destroying proportions, but what? Where's Micah? We're not stupid enough to forget him. What's with Matt and the tortoise and the stupid running blond girl? What was the bloody point of blowing up Costa Verde? It all turned into really bad soap opera mode close to the middle, and I completely lost the thread, and I know it's not because I'm stupid. It's because there was no direction, no clarity whatsoever. Everybody ran around talking about how something horrible would destroy the Earth (what's new?) and how they all had to save it, but all that ambiguity really got on my nerves. My intelligence felt insulted. It was all a messed-up jumble of stuff that probably looked impressive on paper but turned to crap when executed. There was so much going on it pretty much all cancelled each other out and became nothing. Oh to go back to the days when Heroes could tell a good, complicated, criss-crossing yarn, and tell it well. BOO you, Heroes. BOO you.

Now, Supernatural? Supernatural had direction. Dean sold his soul to Hell in exchange for bringing Sam back to life and he has only one year to weasel his way out of eternal damnation, if at all possible, while Sam grapples with the reality of losing his brother and the possibility that Hell is grooming him to one day be AntiChrist Superstar. Clean. Simple. Uncomplicated. Plenty of room for emotional punches.SPN in season 3 also went a little bit in the way of soap opera-ishness, but it was done well. And I have never really watched SPN for its mini-episodic-plots. If you want real quality scares, go rent The X-Files. You may have heard of it.
Since SPN is pwning everything, you may be of the opinion that I should stop here. But nah. I haven't reached the fun bits yet.


6. Bad-Ass Boys: Sylar (Zachary Quinto) vs Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles)

That's a no-contest win right there. Not even The Eyebrows Of Doom can stand a chance against Jemsem Smeckles and his Pretty. Not even a shadow of a a chance. Also, Dean is just such a character. A jerk in many ways, but he grows on you in spite of yourself, he really does. To quote myself;
"...He's all cocky bad-ass-porn-watching-mullet rock-listening-face-stuffing-demon-hunting-women-objectifying-devoted-son-big-brother-and-all-round-kick-asser. He can stuff so much food in his piehole he looks like he may tear his face in half. He is a manly man who shoots guns and says no to chick flicks and says "Dude!" a lot, and hides all his pain deep deep inside where nobody can see it, and when he really really has to cry all you get to see is one teeny itty bitty teardrop, because his dad messed him up so bad (screw you, Papa Winchester!) and made him go all psychologically repressive, and despite his macho and cocksure arrogance and tough-guy persona he has heartbreakingly low levels of self-esteem and painful insecurities, especially about his family leaving him when they no longer need his bad-ass protection, and the struggle he goes through in holding up that mask he uses to hide the fact that he does indeed feel emotion, probably more acutely than most people. Oh Dean. How you hide your raw and vulnerable need for affection. The fangirls' collective hearts bleed for thee! He's just like those M&Ms he enjoys so much; hard shell on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside. Fangirls go "Awww!" and want to pat him on the head and feed him chicken soup and give him huggies. Well, no. Actually we want to rip his clothes off, throw him up against a wall and bang his lights out.But we'll totally follow up with soup and cuddles. Promise."



And the fact that he looks pretty much like Sex-On-Texan-Bow-Legs does no harm whatsoever. And of course he is way bad-asser than Sylar and his brain-stealing tendencies. You need to have spectacular levels of bad-assness in order to pull off a leather jacket that doesn't fit and a kid brother who is a few storeys taller than you are.









7. The Sensitive Emo Angsters : Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) vs Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki)

This, I must give to Peter. Season 1 Peter, to be more specific, although that's kinda sorta cheating. Back when he was all sweet and naive and had all this blind, touching faith in humanity and the genuine desire to help people and make something of himself. Where the hell did that Peter go, eh? And the Hair that came with him?
Sam is a nice guy and everything, and he went to Stanford, which is hot. But he doesn't really do anything for me. He's a sweetheart, though. Too bad he's like, the spawn of Lucifer, or something.















8. The Cooler Weapons/Toys

You have to admit the powers people have on Heroes are still pretty cool, despite the sexy car and the shiny Gun That Kills Everything on SPN. I can even forgive the fact that nobody can really explain what this catalyst business means. It still looked really awesome when Hiro's mom transferred it to him and all. This, I shall consider a tie. Both Heroes and SPN pwn this.

9. The Brother Aspect : Petrellis vs Winchesters

If I were comparing the first seasons of both shows, Petrellis would would have won this by a landslide, which Nathan would have approved of. The Brother-Thing in season 1 of Heroes made up a great deal of the charm for me. It was touching, and warm and heartbreaking in its complexity and totally believable despite the circumstances. The Brother-centred climax in the final episode, it made me cry, which spoke volumes of how well the relationship had been moulded throughout the 24 episodes.


By season 3 however, you almost forget that Nathan and Peter are brothers until you see them in a scene together and your brain slowly pieced it together. The Petrelli brothers' relationship took a major backseat in the place of a lot more insignificant things that were just filler for the most part. It was obviously a result of Peter cutting his hair off. Even his blood ties have disintegrated. I knew it, and I warned them NBC people about ages ago. I did.


(I think we can all see a pattern here). The Brotherliness of the Winchesters however, has never been in question, even if they never really kissed as much as the Petrellis did. Mainly because there aren't too many other characters floating around to distract you from it, but also because the concept of Brothers makes up the very core of the story and all it stands for (which obviously puts Heroes at a disadvantage, but whatever). Sam and Dean's heavy dependence on each other is so unhealthy and sometimes so disturbing it's almost painful. The extent to which they go to protect each other, how that fierce love can spill out into the realms of pure, filthy selfishness and re-affirm the capacity of human love and constantly make you think about whether or not they'd be this close if their lives were any less weird. Supernatural is no more about Banshees and Crocattas than Heroes is about people who can shoot coloured light out of their palms. And that truly goes out as an honest compliment to both shows.
But Winchesters still pwn.


10. Plus Points and Major Disappointments

I've bitched too much about Heroes already, so I'll talk about the positives then. Mohinder goes through hell, which is brilliant.
Aaaand that's about it, really. And Ando, of course. The always lovely Ando, although he couldn't seem to quite make up his mind about his accent this season.

And I've said too many lovely things about SPN, so let us address the one major negative point in season 3 ; neither Dean nor Sam took their shirts off. At all. I mean, what is the deal? Bloody teases, they are. Are they trying to make up for the overexposure of last season? Thank goodness for Google image search, though. They can't hide under clothes forever, not on the Internet, they cannot.
But seriously, it's really as if Supernatural started off so terribly that the only way for it to go was along the road of Improvement, whereas Heroes kicked off so brilliantly that every season after the first has been like a struggle to keep up with with the standards it set for itself.

The Verdict
Supernatural has reached unattainable levels of pwnage. They pwn beyond all Pwnage. Pretty boys. Fast cars. A shiny Gun That Kills Everything. Leather Jacket. Pig In A Poke. And a mini Bon Jovi karaoke session. Top that, Heroes.


Yes, boys. Feel free to indulge in a beer. You've earned it, for now at least.

New Year's Resolutions. Of A Bloggeddy Sort.

1. Watch more television.

Because the television, it is awesome. Especially now that there are things like Supernatural marathons and X-Files re-runs and Roswell episodes from 657 B.C. Which makes my geek/fangirl-hybrid soul very happy.

2. Continue to bitch about Heroes.

Honestly, that show deserves it. I was watching last night's episode (something with an eclipse in the title) and what bugged me most wasn't the fact that Elle and Sylar were making out, or that Ando's (bless him) accent kept alternating between Japanese and distinctly American, or that Mohinder still wasn't dead; it was the fact that they managed to make Claire not-that-annoying anymore. I do not like this.
Also, I was ready to bitch about the fact that you're not supposed to look directly at a total solar eclipse, like many of the characters did in last night's epi (and very dramatically, as well) but I googled it and apparently it's pretty safe to do so (only during the total phase, though). So now I'm off to re-watch said episode and catch whoever it is that gazed upon the eclipse when it wasn't in the total phase. HA!

3. Fall in love with more Pretty People and shamelessly fawn over them on this here blog.

Random gratuitous shot of Jensen Ackles sitting in a chair.
Because I just felt like it.
Now shut up.

4. Read more books.

Especially poor old Anna Karenina, who has been on my bookshelf, virtually untouched,since my 16th birthday. Those of you who have been following my arduous and challenging journey of Tolstoyic proportions will not be happy to know that I have not advanced a single page since possibly May 2007, and by my standards, this is simply shameful.

5. Continue to preach the One True Religion; Sigur ros-ism.

I shall stuff them down your throats (and ears) and you will like it.

6. Figure out what Hamlet's deal is.

Because the boy, he is messed up. It's kinda sexy, but I'll need more time with him if I truly want a nice, fat, shiny A+ on that paper.

7. Try not to detest school so much.

Because school honestly was the worst part of 2008 for the BAP. It made me angry, and moody, and nauseous, and I would come home and not talk for a few hours and emo to every cover version of Hallelujah I could find on the computer. The upside is that I'll be done with this misery at the end of 2009, when all hail! University (fingers crossed!) awaits my Awesomeness.

8. Learn to drive.

Due to No.7, I was way too miserable in 2008 to bother.

9. Listen to more music.

2008 was a bit of a blip in my musical education. I was completely and utterly unaware of most of the year's releases, from the big ones (The Killers) to the relatively teeny ones (Bloc Party had an album out? Seriously?) and the ones I did manage to get my hands on, I barely listened to. So 2009 is the year I will give music the due attention and respect it deserves, no matter how much it may suck.

10. Watch more (good) movies.

I went to Twilight two times this year. TWO TIMES. Oh save my soul!

11. Meet Bawanie and Hannah Who Never Updates.

It is rather sad that we all live in the same town and have never met. It really is. Plus the fact that these two have no clue what I look like, and yet we can can have conversations online that last for bloody hours. And the saddest thing of all is that we have probably passed each other by a million times at the mall or on the street, and never even knew it.
Oh and Su Ling, you can come see me, as well.

12. Be Awesomer.

Happy 2009, peasants!