school makes you hate things that you used to enjoy. stop trying to grade life, you useless cretins. 

world literacy day

apparently world literacy day is sept 8, so even though im late, im gonna pick a few books to celebrate it.

quick story - because i read a lot, once i borrowed a whole bunch of books from the library only to realise that i've read most of them. so now i try to keep a list of books i've read so i don't make the same mistake. let me tell you there's nothing more disappointing than anticipating a good read and finding out that there's nothing to enjoy. i do reread my favourite ones a lot though.

book recs:

1. the lies of locke lamora, scott lynch. and the sequel red seas under red skies. and there's a third one due sometime later.

wow this book is gold. i enjoyed basically every second of this, and thinking about it now just makes me ridiculously happy. at no point did i pause and think "what a terrible choice incongruent with your previous choices" or "because you're incapable of complex emotions apparently". i don't feel "iffy" about any part of the book(s). please read them. 

locke lamora is a fucking bastard but it's good to know that he has a little bit of morals i guess. (i'd prefer a totally amoral protagonist but i guess that doesn't fly well with censors and editors) locke lamora is wonderful and i wouldn't read it out in public because i'd end up laughing to myself. probably get institutionalised to boot.

2. warm bodies, isaac marion

everyone's heard about the stupid movie but no one seems very inclined to read the book. i read the book after watching half of a bootleg version of the movie at the hospital waiting for something or another. and let me tell you. wow. 

the movie's fine, but nothing spectacular. good cinematography. good actors. (pretty hot actually) but the book is way better. i advise you to watch a bit of the movie before reading the book because it fleshes out the narrator (and makes him a lot hotter). the first half of the movie sticks really close to the book and i appreciate that, but the second half diverges so much that i think the first half was just making up for the second half's deficiency. 

just read the book okay it's ten million times more alluring. good stuff. 

3. ready player one, ernest cline

i think there was some hype about this book (or a lot, maybe) but it's not as well known as certain other books (cough cough) and i feel it really SHOULD be more well known. it's really intriguing. the research is wow. the atmosphere wow. it doesn't really go the traditional tech-obsessed dystopian future route, or the underprivileged but clever protagonist hacker route. 

i felt a bit lost sometimes but i think that's because i am too '97 to properly appreciate the references. i have heard a lot of good things about the references in this book. a lot. please read this.

4. horns, joe hill

this book is actually getting a movie this year, starring daniel radcliffe. i don't really have high hopes. i am pretty much expecting good entertainment but little else. i'll watch it though, because this book is just that good. joe hill did endorse dan's portrayal of the protagonist, so ...eh, we'll see.

little nugget: joe hill is the pseudonym of stephen king's SON. i found this after devouring horns and desperately searching for more of his works. wowee. this book. wowee. 

starts off a little dark. confusing (because the narrator is confused). and funny. then it drives off the road without you noticing and suddenly it's not fun and games and nowhere near kansas. this book is intense!! i love it. it's about the "devil" story like how maleficent is about the "sleeping beauty" story. except like a whole lot less heartwarming and more realistically charming. i think charming is a little too bright and sunshiny to properly describe the feel of this book, but i guess it'll do. 

5. battle royale, takami koushun

this is classic, you can't go without reading it. the better, grittier, stripped down, hardcore version of hunger games (which is two million percent overhyped because it's really only the first book that's any good. i gave it 3 on my booklist for entertainment value. don't even read the second and third books). 

battle royale is not adventure-style but more survival-style. the only way it can get more hardcore is going the sexual depravity route a la murakami ryu. but it's about kids so i guess that might not fly. especially since it's a kind of old book back when mainstream media didn't celebrate artistic sex and gore.

watch the movie too. it's also really old. not that classic, but it really cements the setting of the book. 

6. the girl next door, jack ketchum

very gory, really triggering (abuse). very emotional. this book made me feel so sick that i finished it in a single afternoon. it's like... it's like the whole 9/11 thing, it's horrific and terrible and you wish it never happened but you have to know all about it.

you just need to read this, it's significant. it helps you understand a lot about people. 

7. the nightrunner series, lynn flewelling

there are six books: luck in the shadows, stalking darkness, traitor's moon, shadow's return, the white road, casket of souls. bonus short: glimpses (where they have a bit of sex, if i remember)

basically the two protagonists are really cool. also really gay. but there's nothing in the books except like maybe a chaste kiss. kind of disappointing for me, because i was hoping for a whole lot more, but glimpses did the job. anyway, there's fantastic worldbuilding and chararcterisation. feels a bit like fanfiction precisely BECAUSE of how much thought and consideration had been put into it. flewelling loves this series you can feel it. 

every book is good. fantastic portrayal. emotional connection. everything. just read it. adventure-style.

8. codex alera series, jim butcher

jim butcher also wrote the dresden files. i've read fourteen books of the dresden files but it just doesn't have the same kick as codex alera. dresden files are entertaining and a good adventure but it feels mediocre and very typically adult novel. (i don't think highly of most adult novel because it's mainly woman with mysterious past! dark handsome cop also with mysterious past! someone dies...what now?? watch sexy cop and sexy girlfriend to find out! if you've read one you've read them all. not that all adult novels are trash. just a lot of them. probably because it's supposed to appeal to boring peole with ingrained gender stereotypes and an inability to think outside the binary) 

codex alera's protagonist is a kid, and we watch him grow up. the premise sounds very typical adventure-style for boys, but the book explores it pretty deeply. it's actually pretty complex and has a bit (a lot) of political manoeuvring. great worldbuilding. i'm afraid that if i day any more i'd spoil the series, but trust me. you'll like this one.

8. some psychology and non-fiction books, for variety

the social animal, david brooks

the wisdom of psychopaths, kevin dutton

the psychopath test, jon ronson (also the men who stare at goats, lost at sea)

spy the lie, philip houston, michael floyd, susan carnicero

blink, malcolm gladwell

the man who mistook his wife for a hat, oliver sacks

master of deception, michele slatella

kingpin, kevin poulson

dubiously..... confessions of a psychopath, m. e. thomas

it's probably true i guess? you can see how she exhibits psychopathic behaviour traits while talking about them. a good study.

let me tell you what's awesome

this song is awesome. this video is also kooky and awesome.

this tea that i bought today is also awesome.

the teabag is fucking triangular how much more rad can this get

cosfest2014/eoy2014

these two events are together because they're only a month apart. eoy got bumped up to august laughs why is it even called 'end of year'.

but seriously it's cause i didn't edit my cosfest pictures until like, two days ago.

cosfest was in the beginning of july, right after my common tests.

this cute girl can fucking sing!! i swear. i found her instagram - @sakurasoh

wow so glamourous

a fantastic rize but try as i might i couldn't fit her arm appendages into the picture

/swoon yuegene fay

bloody fuck she is so handsome

just look at that face

oooooo

such a cute kid. i found him at eoy too - more later

look at this. look at this!! wow. just wow. inumuta.

fem!murasakibara wow!!!!!

cute cosplay of a pokemon. unfortunately i don't watch pokemon. or play pokemon.
i've watched other people play it tho. stop accusing me of not having a childhood.

hehehe....hehehe....this is so much perf

i have a story to tell about this guy

so this guy is a pretty famous cosplayer called tousa bao (that's what he calls himself online). i was trying to find jiayi when jiayi found me, and she clutched me and fangirled about an "oikawa". she was like, "he's so hot!!! he's so hot help me take a picture!! picture!!" and she was trying to drag me over. 

unfortunately for her the guy was standing close by and he totally heard every single word. i looked up and he was smiling awkwardly at us. (with a tinge of "i want to run away") 

i would cackle at jiayi but that would be mean. also i've already made fun of her a million times.

this story has a sequel. stay tuned. muahahaha.

he's a really good oikawa though

i found a pretty girl but i've yet to stalk out her social media

such hipster luka

wow ok i have a short story about this too

so this kid. this bundle of cute over here. he cosplays. like really. i made friends with his mama (i think i did) and she told me that he watches anime and picks the characters himself. (squee!!)

she also said that he kind of doesn't like this costume cause he couldn't fight in it. (squee!)

i found him again later in the day and bribed him with a lollipop.

laughs there is also a sequel. stay tuned.

ok so this is dmmd. aoba. i think. the one in black (i don't play dmmd!! i was
going to watch the anime but heard that it was disappointing... sigh). anyway the one in black is
mein karakuri on facebook and caravellam on instagram. so hot. 

ahh what a satisfying mako

ok so this is part two 

part two is that he went on day two as eren and he was holding the blades and rawrr-ing. 

cute. 

part two may be a little less exciting than part one.

i think that this is a crossdress... i think. i think????????
you make me all confused you beautiful person.

this is little feg mike holding up her yabuhika rabu rabu

hahahahahah HAHAHAHA this is the sequel to jiayi's story

on the second day she saw this cute rin with a haru so she was begging me to take a photo. and after i went home i went on instagram and lo and behold!!!! guess who was rin. guess. THREE TRIES AND TWO DON'T COUNT

IT'S TOUSA BAO. i fucking killed myself with laughter this is ridiculous. jiayi was all shy and hiding her face and blushing angrily ahaha

let me laugh for a while.

there's even a part three!!!!!!

the coscard wall

okay so we're now at eoy2014. it was hella hot let me tell you. we got a group of people and went for a picnic. we called it the bitch party.

cleaner eren. all he's missing is a rivaille to boss him around

ah! convenient. here we see a rivaille abusing eren. who is actually happily taking it in stride.
all in the name of cosplay!! but to be fair the rivaille is pretty hot.

this is sakurasoh again!! wow so cute

some tokyo ghoul

this is the kid from cosfest! whom i saw walking around by himself the whole event.
but i went on instagram afterwards and saw him smiling happily with some other dudes.
i presume he's fifteen because the other dudes are fifteen. why is everyone so young

anyway he's really cute. really pretty.

hilarious!! YOWAPEDA FOR THE WIN. BEST SHIP COSPLAY AWARD.
yowapeda just makes me happy

fireman makoto!! hold out for the chef haru

all i can say is that tania gave us all a very good view of her stomach and butt.
mmmm

maid!grell~ think i saw him at minnacon too. some guy was joking about grell's ambiguous gender identity
and the ambiguity of whether this is crossdressing or not. fabulous.

murasakibara! go! murasakibara!!

stupid gabrielle looking at the ball and glove as if she's never seen them before.
she used to play softball

stupid senpai. haha. so cute.

potato salad!! just a tiny part of the picnic

fegs featuring me behind the camera and shuxien's hand because she couldn't get on the wall

tamara being a hipster goddess

beautiful

a lil bit of the bitch party

so this kakashi. let me tell u. jiayi. yes. jiayi again. it is always jiayi.
she stalked him around the whole day. i literally kid you not. anyway we found his
facebook - syncprojectx de kuroha vii. he is also yuonger than us. his instagram is _devilicious_

haha. hahaha. part three of jiayi's neverending embarrassment

so jiayi's been talking about an abs!haru for a long time and we found one as we were going home. so i went to take a picture and ... guess what. actually you don't even need to guess.

on the way home we checked instagram and tadaaaa!!

tousa bao. 

im just gonna end this here.