Today I am 26.

I got a $2.20/hr before tax pay rise. I have never earned so much in a week before. Think I may be lower middle class, now. XD

I think Christian Louboutin shoes are the ugliest shoes I have ever seen. I do not get the fuss.

I laugh when magazines advise doing exercise that raises a light sweat because I have a sweat problem so typing can make me sweat.

I keep thinking about how sad it is that Castiel has nobody but Dean. It's really really sad and also hilarious because he is v awkward and Dean is a completely fail friend but really. Where does he go when he's not around the Winchesters? I know he said he would look for God but four hours waiting for Dean by the side of the road says he probably spends a lot of time sitting quietly on his own. That is so sad! Poor wibbly Castiel.

Haha god it is so good to be back in CFUD. Not that not having a character stopped me from dropping by the irc chan nearly every day for the last few months but still, 'tis fun to play. I need to get me a second character because lol it's not like I need time to sleep or anything. Also, pretty much impossible to stress about my app when my next polisci assignment involves interviewing a politician; this unit is taking up my entire stress quota.

Also, today at work I said I don't get why Marilyn Manson pulls such hot chicks and Carl said it's because of the patriarchy. Then he tried to explain hegemony to Aaron. Still amused.

About to go to work but omg so glad to be back in CFUD. I forgot how much fun it was! :D :D Even if my shitty bigpond internet makes it hard to play as fast as I would like.

Jess, Caz and I finally went to see the Pompeii exhibit at the museum. It was neato! I love frescoes. Though, with my old woman hips and knees I just wanted to sit down by the time we left.

People make it sound like you stay perfectly perky throughout your twenties. Nobody mentions that things start to ache and everything starts going south at about, oh, 24.

Also I seem to have watched Supernatural 5.01-5.04. Castiel is funny, Ellen is hot and oh god don't mock me.

Random thoughts:

* Giving people Watchmen when they've never read any other superhero comics is like taking people to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead when they know nothing about Hamlet.

* It's probably because I was young in the 80s that I still think a rocking guitar solo is about the hottest thing ever.

I was torn on whether I should download the Paris Hilton episode of Supernatural or not because, on the one hand, I have for many years absolutely refused to watch SPN, but on the other hand I kind of adore Paris Hilton. I declared this to the cfud irc chan and so Oz decided to try to convince me to watch by telling me it's not that incesty and linkspamming me with amusing youtube clips, so I spent much of Sunday night watching small clips from Supernatural and actually enjoying them because omg funny (klshdf 'the voice says I'm almost out of minutes' is still making me giggle).

So, I downloaded the Paris Hilton ep. Dean failing to see that Gandhi was awesome was totally uncool. It was worth the download just to see Ms Hilton's dramatic turn but ultimately? I'm not planning to watch it again.

In other news, I may hate my polisci unit, but for my film unit I get to watch so many awesome movies. Batman! Fight Club! Run Lola Run!

edited oh, so they were doing all the three rivers ads with only the white guy because he's Australian. Now I see. He's still not hot, though.

Learn French by Podcast has "[New lesson] "What are your thoughts on the Polanski affair?" | Now available for download." on the front page. For some reason that amuses me.

The Lonely Planet front page, on the other hand, has an article about 'How Not to Get Eaten by a Bear'. Which I'm sure is very useful but still LOL. (In general Lonely Planet is not useful to me because I'm not a backpacker and I don't want incredibly out of date information about the places I visit.)

I am really determined to actually get to France in their next Spring this time. I figure I can afford a week or so of overseas travel once every two years if I budget well. It would be cheaper if I could go with someone but they'd have to be someone who would do exactly what I want and go where I want to go and given that I don't even want to see the Louvre, the likelihood of that is slim to none.

I went to see Marilyn Manson with zanbam last night and when we were leaving Festival Hall I saw one of the women in the crowd wearing a corset and pasties. Stay classy, Melbourne!

• I thought nothing could befuddle me more than the bizarre pop-cult worship of Obama (if I never see another solicit for a comic about Obama again it will be too soon) but Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize did it. What has he actually done since he got into office, apart from renege on his promise to close Gitmo? Now there'll probably be even more creepy unofficial Obama merchandise. This is not to say I get the epic hate some have for Obama, either (in fact, it's safe to say I don't really get America in general).

• I am, for some reason, watching Video Hits and damn Ricki-Lee is looking fine in her video with all the leather and the corsetry and wow hello the boots and the shiny fingerless gloves. That is some outfit. Usually I think her outfits are terrible and unflattering but this one is just straight up sex.

• The Simpsons Movie was actually kind of brilliant, very enjoyable, plot actually big enough for movie length, very feel good, and now I have the spider pig song stuck in my head.

• One of the commercial channels keeps advertising Three Rivers and I know it has the insane hotness of both Katherine Moenig and Daniel Henney but the ads are all just boring looking white guy talking about how it's all life-affirming or something and, wow, it's like they made ads specifically designed to turn me off.

• I have a week of holiday left and I think I shall make the most of it by lazing around and doing nothing. :)

• Living near so many fast-food places and a late night supermarket makes it shamefully easy to fail at this healthy living thing I keep trying. Surely not wanting to miss any of the Simpsons Movie on TV will stop me from going out to buy cake. Alas, my left knee has hurt to much to go for long walks for the last few days.

• So, Australians generally don't find the Jackson Jive skit offensive (just like I was the only one offended by that Chaser's skit about how lynching black people in pink robes is apparently hilarious), Supernatural is apparently still full of racism and sexism and Australian CLEO can always find room for a misogynist page about Megan Fox. How nice to see that nothing ever changes.

• I was so hungry I was set to go storming out to buy icecream, diet be damned, but it was cold and I realised once I got outside that this dress is so short when standing up that it's clear I'm wearing control top stockings. :( I did have a strawberry left that hasn't gone bad yet, at least. I am so hungry, though, even though it's already 7 and I've had three meals today.

• I get so confused at some of the things people recommend to me or assure me I'd like. I'm not against something being full of attractive men but that's really not that much of a draw, given that there are decent looking people in everything on TV. Also, really, if you tell me something is the gayest thing ever it better have actual gay characters in it and not just be mildly slashy. Plus, that whole thing where I tend to prefer female characters so I don't want to watch a giant sausagefest about generic manpain.

Also, I have a download limit! People need to stop telling me to download things.

• I don't like fanfic that's mostly people thinking and not much actual action and dialogue! I like stuff to happen! I don't get why the prose equivalent of cricket commentary gets so much love.

• I cannot believe Smallville is still going. How does it have nine seasons? My mind, it is blown. Obviously, they don't show it here any more but still, wow.

Sometimes I write and it feels like it's going well but then later I look back at what I wrote and it's awkward and clunky, doesn't flow, the language sounds stiff and unreal. All the connections, between paragraphs, between characters, all the feelings and the motivation and the movement, that's all just in my head, it never ends up on the page. The harder I try the worse it gets. I can never translate from my brain into language. I can only write things that are empty and meaningless and if writing wasn't something I do to keep from going crazy I'd give up.

I read X-Factor #49 and I'm just like 'what?! what?' I have no idea what the hell happened there.

* So, I just read Legion of 3 Worlds and, uh, why did Andromeda show up with the Archie Legion? And, moreover, why the pre-anomaly not-a-nun Andromeda? I mean obviously Geoff Johns just doesn't know post-zero hour legion canon all that well, but still the fact that none of the editors caught that bugs me. She wasn't even a member at the end of post-zero hour canon! She hadn't been in the book for years.

* I never got around to blogging actual details of the Gold Coast weekend (because I'm lazy) and I'm not going to post photos, but we watched Up in 3d, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man and they were all such awesome films. I'm sure there are people on my flist shocked that it took me so long to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Also, Iron Man is totally my new favourite superhero film, not least because unlike other superhero films the female characters aren't watered down. Also, it was funny.

* I watched the AFL grand final on the weekend - good game! It was close right to the end, which is fun to watch when you support neither team. Also, my parents were up for a long holiday weekend, which was nice, especially given I'm not going up to see them at Christmas.

* I went to the show with telcontar last week. It was fun! Very different from the Perth show, largely because of the very different showgrounds. I like how neatly organised the Royal Melbourne Show is. We looked at lots of animals (alpacas!) and wacky cakes and crafts and I bought two showbags, so now I have a superman bag and pencil tin.

I watched the second episode of Glee and it seemed really sexist and tripped my humiliation squick something fierce. Judging by everyone else's reactions, I don't think that's what I was supposed to feel about this show.

Lots of lovely rain today and I went for two walks. The smell of spring is upon us and I am exercising so I should be feeling great instead of lethargic and flabby. I know, I need to exercise more and stop eating so damn much.

I think Jin looks horrible in Anan and needs to shave that skeezy bumfluff from his chin but I'm aware this is a minority opinion.

I am still, inexplicably, exhausted.

I have the longing to read romance (non-skeezy romance, with some fabulous grown woman as the main character, where nobody has to give up their independence and fighting like squabbling children isn't masquerading as sexual tension) but it doesn't exist in a comic and I haven't the time or the attention span to read an actual prose novel at the moment. Why the universe doesn't know to magically cater for my whims, I will never figure out.

I read Fantastic Four #563-570 earlier, and though I'm not entirely sure what happened in #566-569, the art was gorgeous and I love the borderless panels. Ridiculous number of double page spreads, though.

The footy game last night was so bloody boring. Both teams looked completely stuffed, though. Whoever wins the final tonight will likely win the flag next weekend.

Last night at dinner my aunt said my mother would be proud of me and, you know, that's the first time anyone's ever said that to me. It was really nice. (And so was dinner.)

* I finally watched the end of Chicago on DVD. I love the musical numbers but the actual plot I just can't concentrate on. I did like the end, though, and Catherine Zeta-Jones was scorching.

* I am sick of people talking like superhero comics is all that exists in English-language comics. If you can't find anything but superhero comics you are not looking very hard, especially given the market share that horror (the other mainstream genre right now) has in the direct market. It's really not hard to find graphic novels or regular ongoings that do not have a hint of the spandex set because, seriously, even I have read such things. (It's not even like you have to go far into Previews to find them, if you read it, because hello, Vertigo, Dark Horse, both publishing popular, quality stuff. Also, the top three or four search results for 'graphic novel' on Amazon are non-superhero stuff.)

* I do not care about the Dark Reign: YA mini at all. I don't care about most of these characters! I only want to read about the actual young avengers. Plus, the colouring is so murky that it looks kind of ugly every month. Also, Models Inc #1? A complete mess, which is a shame as the covers are witty and hilarious and I was hoping they could replicate the charm of Marvel Divas.

Adventure Comics #2 was really lovely, though.

* So, nobody ever told me Young Justice ends with an orphaned teenage girl left to raise two infants on her own. Uh, why do people recommend this, again? Because having read it all, I don't get it. And the bit where Robin is all 'ohoho let's just all be friends you silly little girls' when Secret tries to kill Spoiler just makes him look like a giant dickhead.

The good thing about studying media is that doing things I already enjoy - watching films - counts as studying. It helps that I already liked Citizen Kane and the works of Hitchcock.

Randomly, Mike Mignola frequently uses a lot more panels per page than is the current trend. I'm always wowed by how many panels he'll fit on a page without making it look crowded or outdated, when most comics these days struggle to fit as many as six.

I am tired! But it was a great weekend, which I may or may not recount in greater detail later, I saw Austin Powers and got my picture taken with the Flash and Wonder Woman at Movieworld, bought lots of stuff, watched some good movies and hung out with some of the most awesome friends ever. :)

So, Superman Returns did get better after the half hour mark (and thank goodness for that). ...There's Clark/Lois/Richard fic, right? Also, the clothes really were lovely, especially that dress Parker Posey wears at the end with the parasol.

I am not packed for the Gold Coast weekend yet, though I have bought my swimsuit (and can I just say - five day weekend? fuck yes, thanks work). I probably should have cleaned the house also, but at least I've cleared out the fridge.

I'm nearly half an hour into Superman Returns and my god this movie is so boring. Too much brown, boring script that is too bloody slow, crappy actor for Lois (I've seen about half a second of Kate Bosworth as Lois so far but it's enough to know that that is not my Lois), bad choice of Director and my god does anyone really want to relive the 70s? Not that some of the fashion isn't neat, but still, so much brown. Ugh. Boring. I don't think this was worth the price of download.

Being a comics fan is all drama drama drama.

• Comics fans must automatically worry that something is cancelled if it's not solicited for one month so X-Factor not being solicited for November meant everyone had to panic and assume it's cancelled, and also talk smack about Peter David, even though X-Factor sells a solid 30,000 issues each month (not spectacular sales, admittedly, but not low enough to threaten cancellation). Of course, PAD wasn't helping anything, not that he was allowed to say anything about why it wasn't solicited for November until there was an announcement by Marvel. But, of course, it's not cancelled, it's just being renumbered (oh, Marvel, you and your wacky numbering) and a double size issue #200 is being put out in December, because the artist needs twice as long to work on it.

• I greatly suspect PAD decided to keep Shatterstar on in X-Factor largely to piss off the few homophobes who said stupid things to him on the internet about Rictor and Shatterstar pashing, hahaha.

• This morning on the news when they were announcing Disney's acquisition of Marvel they said Marvel owned properties including Wonder Woman... and it's like, hello, that would take a half-second google or wiki search to see how wrong that is. ( disney/marvel bla bla horizontal integration bla )

• I really want to go to New York. I want to go everywhere! Why can't I be a millionaire?

• Yet again failed to buy a swimsuit. I may have to look in Seafolly though they are ridiculously expensive.

• I wish Australia had a Disneyland. They could put it in Adelaide and then people would actually want to visit Adelaide. Or they could put it on the Gold Coast with all the other theme parks (trivia: there are 21 theme parks on the Gold Coast, four of them being in the one street).

• Also, I'm glad they found the Water Minister alive and generally okay.

I couldn't be bothered going shopping this afternoon, after all, even though it was lovely and sunny, but I guess that gave me time to spend half the night participating on the class discussion forums instead.

You know, I'm all for the ideal of 8 hours work, 8 hours play, 8 hours rest but how many people actually live up to that these days? I think I'm one of the few people I know who isn't working a sixty hour week.

The giant Joker The Last Laugh crossover event from '01 is so boring and half these issues are only vaguely related to the overarching plot. This is why I generally do not like giant crossover events. At least Marvel's Civil War gave me an idea of how different corners of the MU relate to each other. This? Just boring me. At least it's better than War Games, though. I just have to remind myself that most giant crossover events aren't that bad.

I have done some actual study today but there's no reason I shouldn't allow myself to take a break to read Superman Birthright in the middle, right? And it was an awesome read (Clark/Lois OTP 4eva, yo, I love his thoughts upon meeting her) and did relax me, so I choose to consider that break well worth it. Not liking All Star Superman so much, though (think Grant Morrison's writing and I are just a bad match). Right now if I read the rest of the first chapter for my film unit my eyes will cross over, so I'm putting that off tomorrow. I didn't, uh, clean at all but otherwise I'm generally on top of things.

Tomorrow I have to go shopping for things for the Gold Coast weekend (I still have not bought a swimsuit). I was feeling good about not having bought any clothes this winter season but I spent that money I normally budget towards clothes on books instead, so I should not be so self-congratulatory.

Okay, and referring to my earlier and perpetual note of often not liking things other superhero comics fans adore - I don't get why everyone loves Young Justice! I mean, it feels like it's written for a much younger audience than me, and that's nice and all, but I can't connect to the characters when they all come across as annoying children with totally messed up priorities, and are drawn with faces like 8 year olds. I don't think it's terrible or that people who like it have bad taste or anything, just that it's not to mine. Peter David is pretty hit and miss for me, honestly.

I've felt really lethargic, lately. Obviously a sign of too much time spent at home and not enough time in the sun.

I'm starting to panic that my the term starts tomorrow and I haven't read all my study materials and watched the first week's movies, yet. I am knuckling down and reading my study guides and the first chapter of my textbook this morning, but I'm a bit worried about being able to find the movies I'm meant to see. Times like this I'm really incredibly nostalgic for Planet Video which had the most awesome selection of movies ever and would, without a doubt, have all the DVDs I need to rent. :( Why can't any DVD rental places in Melbourne be that good? Bigpond Movies downloads doesn't have my first week movie, either, which is a pain.

I am kind of bummed at not being able to visit the Jewish Museum one last time before the comics exhibit finishes this weekend and not managing to buy a bookshelf (really would be nice to have strongman muscles to carry flat pack furniture home. Alas, that I am a tiny little girl).

I have read a lot of comics in the last week, notably several Superman floppies. (Clark has left Earth and is going by Kal now?!? Oh, DC, you make my head spin with how quick things change.)

I've been reading some Birds of Prey circa Greg Rucka, because I'd only read the Gail Simone issues back in the day, and, wow, now I really understand why people find Oracle so entertaining. She was so much more likable then. I also like that Dinah gets in all sorts of romantic misadventures but Rucka's writing doesn't seem judgemental of it, or of how she obviously enjoys men and sex, which is nice and kind of unexpected given media in general. I also finally read the Nightwing/Huntress mini which is much cheesier than I expected and I'm not entirely sure the particular way Huntress has of coming onto him makes a bunch of sense, but again with the writing not judging her for having a one night stand (and I must say I still find the way Devin Grayson wrote Dick kind of charming). It's a strangely mature thing with two hot people who just need something at that moment in time. It's interesting to me, because by the time of Simone's run of BoP it had become 'Huntress sometimes has casual sex and therefore there is a problem with her as a woman'.

Also, the Batfamily and their assorted associates and hangers-on were so much lighter in tone and character in the 90s. In this decade the batbooks have increasingly become grim and/or gritty to the point of unintentional parody (see also, the completely hilarious first two issues of Red Robin) and Bruce has increasingly had less of an actual personality, to the point where I have lost almost all interest in the books.

Anyway, thoughts on actual comics, some of which are probably months old, (and I have not managed to get the latest 'Tec or this month's previews yet): ( X-Force #18, Wonder Woman #35, Gotham City Sirens #3, The Initiative #27, Dark Avengers #8, Dark X-Men #3, Treehouse of Horror #9, Fantastic Four #569, Superman Man of Krypton #1, Supergirl #43, Power Girl #3 and Detective Comics #856 )

I think that's everything I've read in the last week, comicwise. I swear I do read comics that aren't superhero comics (okay, mostly horror comics) but I just wait for the trade for those. I wonder if the SC of Magneto Testament is out yet and when Groom Lake will be finished.

Completely unrelated, but Q&A last night was really interesting, even if it made me feel bad for having pretty much completely missed the Writer's Festival.

• I have added the Merlin ficlet and Young Avengers ficlet I wrote to the fic site. That's semi-organised of me. I'm still working on the YA prompt for Clare. It may yet turn into a proper sized story.

• I also cleaned a little and did a load of washing so it wasn't a complete waste of a day. I still have to put my lamp together and do that last load of washing and I should probably vacuum, but right now I'm back to freaking out how spacious my place looks when there's no clutter. Too much space not being used!

• I have read the first 34 issues of Sandman. I'm in no hurry to read the rest but it's not like it's going anywhere. Think I shall just read it all in Borders. I do see why everyone ever recommends it, though.

I also read:
* Batgirl #1 of the new series - charming! Gorgeous colours from Guy Major.
* Marvel Divas #2 - Maybe I'd understand why so many people hate it so much if I were more familiar with the characters? The art is really lovely, not the sort of style you see in superhero comics overmuch, the colours in this issue are really nicely done, the Dr Strange cameo was neato, Doctor Voodoo's way of wooing was hilarious and there was some actual superhero action in this issue. It was really nice and the main characters get along charmingly.
* Adventure Comics #1 - Oh, gorgeous! Beautiful colour work. The main story is a lot of fun and pretty much perfect Connor voice, AFAIR.
* Luke Cage Noir #1 and Mighty Avengers #28, about which I have no thoughts.
* X-Factor #27 which had some awesome character moments for Longshot and Syrin, and a wonderfully amusing 2 page spread with Rev. Maddox, and is bringing together the storylines nicely.

I bought two pairs of shoes this week! ( Read more... ) I feel like I've spent big, though flats are pretty cheap and I did need some to replace my old pairs which had fallen apart.

* Law & Order UK is on in the background right now. It doesn't work for me. It's like L&O and The Bill threw up on each other and it's weird to see all these actors I've seen in stuff before on a show with high quality film stock. Frigging whatsherface from Ballykissangel. Also, the lighting and the film tint is all a bit overdone.

* I got the course outlines and books of readings for my classes the other day. Fuck, the News & Politics unit is going to be so much work. Gigantic amount of readings and the assignments and coursework will take up so much time and effort. I'm actually kind of dreading this class. I'm only getting it out of the way first term because most of the units can't be done in this study period. I'm looking forward to the Film and Cultural Studies portions much more, though.

* I've spent much of last night and tonight reading Ex Machina. You know, after having this recommended to me by various people for years and years I got cracking on it this week, hahaha. I'm up to issue #36 and it's pretty awesome. Such a fascinating blend of genres. The art is nice and there's been some spectacular colour work but, wow, I could do with less boobs on page. That amount of naked boob is not necessary.

* I watched High School Musical 3. It was cute and very colourful and entertaining, even if the new kids were kind of annoying and completely unfunny. It helps that I am completely enchanted by Troy/Gabriella and thought their scene on the school roof was utterly darling. Efron's dancing has really improved since the first one. It's sad that over all three movies Sharpay never gets what she wants (such an injustice!). Still, I loved the I Want It All number. So fabulous! What I read about this movie led me to expect Ryan would be the campiest thing ever, and instead he was mostly awkward and dorky, even more so than in the previous one, and made bitchface at his sister a lot while wearing long shorts and socks to the knee. Also, I kind of liked the Ryan/Kelsi. He could like girls, too.

* Holy shit wow the Christina Hendriks Esquire shoot is scorching - example of the hot. How does a woman that hot exist?

* Though trendy as it is to think ScarJo it the hottest thing ever, I have come to the realisation that I, sadly, do not like her. Mostly because, sure, I've only seen her in Ghost World and Vicky Christina Barcelona but her acting is kind of bad.

Know what's not fun in winter, even at the end of a relative warm and wimpy Melbourne winter? Having to have a cold shower! Ugh.