Double, double, toil and trouble

Most of my halloween memories come from films. What can I say, apart from the occasional trick-or-treater back in 'the hood' and now here where I be now.. Halloween is just another excuse to party that I am not utilizing this year. Next year, we dress, we treat, we trick and we cause some severe mayhem.. jailcard here I come!
This year, we check out my top 5 Halloween scenes from various flicks and bask in the glory of favourite-lists.. why? Because, this dear audience, is the only thing I could come up with..

5. Can anyone say Nightmare on Elm Street? Freddy Kruger has to be one of the best terrors out there. Baby-sitting is never quite the same once you've seen these films.. a mass murderer burnt to death returns in the dreams of children to enact his revenge.. one girl realises his power lays only in the world of sleep. So she stays awake.. and tries her best to draw him out to start the real game.. Mhmm. Classic horror. Minimal screaming. Total nightmare material.

4. Buffy: It's just ... You're never gonna get noticed if you keep hiding! You're missing the     whole point of Halloween. 

Willow: Free candy?

One Halloween in Sunnydale, the costume becomes her, and him, and them. That is Buffy all dolled up in her 18th century finery finds herself a helpless *ahem* young damsel in distress.. Willow's a ghost and Xander's the saviour. Role play, anyone? Another Halloween sees the gang trapped inside a haunted house where there is no door.. very shiningesque of them.. all in all, all hallow's eve is always exciting with the Scoobies.

3. Silence of the Lambs.. I seem to be on a scary movie trip here, but how can anyone go past Silence of the Lambs? Cannibal man, female cop, sexual tension that could seriously develop into a feast for one of these two. He could always eat her, and as she well knows, he would enjoy every last peice of her flesh. Eeek! But fantastic film, all the same.

2. Double, double, toil and trouble. So it has a few vices, but it has the Olsen twins at their cutest! Not to mention the whole, twin thing was always one of my favourite places to float around in. *If only there was another me..* Basically, twins! Who save the day with a little help from magic, a little sisterly love and lots of seven-year old charm. What's not to love?

1. The Shining. "Heeeeeeerreeeee's JOHNNY!" If you haven't seen this, dear lord, get out from under that rock and rent / buy it now!! Jack Nicholson totally freaks me out everytime I see him as Jack, the crazy father of young Danny and husband of gutsy Wendy, who is driven to kill both his wife and child through the persuasion of a ghost.. or is he? Never will I go to a ski lodge, alone or with less than five people in tow, a mobile phone, several forms of outside contact and prefrabbly? Lets just go in summer. *shudders*

Loved. Contrived. Forever?

Recently its been in the air. Talk of marriage, love, children and commitment.

Which is better? What defines a better marriage? How do you know your ready? Is it even necessary in todays modern world?

Im not sure. From where I sit, things are something like this. Marriage is relationship one forms with someone they love, its a custom much like birthday parties, it acknowledges your commitment to the one person for the rest of your lives. Forever.

Thats all well and good, but what about those marriages that end in divorce or separation? I know many of these. And the people have moved on. They live. I can also think of people who haven't married but are happy and comfortable. Some have children, some dont see the need.

Others are married in what is termed an 'arranged' marriage. This is a custom in most traditional Indian families. Parents of the bride or groom - whoevers hunting - introduces them to appropriate spousal candidates, Appropriate has varied meanings for different families. Some prefer their inlaws to be richer, others for their family values to be incrediblyhigh. More still like the brides family to be able to afford a sizeable dowry. Dowry is the name applied to a sum of money + gifts given to the grooms' family as a means of saying 'thank-you for taking our daughter as a member of your family, please keep her well.' Its also a system used to discriminate against those who don'y have enough money. Its a conflicted concept.

Today, many families choose to forgo the dowry. Its seen as a aged custom. One that needs to be done away with. Personally, I agree. It seems to me as if one is paying relative-strangers to take away the bride. Many others agree with this idea, perhaps this is why the tradition is receeding, good riddens I say.

Getting back to arranged marriages, for the last thirty odd years the Indian tradition has changed. Now people tend to marry those they've dated and or known for a while. Arranged marriages occur in two kinds of families: one where the child is happy to let their parents help them choose; and others where the child is too afraid to tell their parents not to help them choose. They are really the only two reasons I can see.

It sound kind of easy to me. Your introduced to someone via your family, through advertisements in newspapers/magazines /websites etc. You meet. You go through a courtship. Very old school. And then after a few meetings you decide, yes? Or no. Yes means we move to engagements and what can be a exciting courtship period between engagement and wedding. There are dates, games, dinners, interaction on a very verbal and psychological level. The idea is to get to know your future partner in every way but the physical. Lol. Sounds difficult and old fashioned, doesnt it?

Could be nice.

Especially the way Indian movies show the courtship and all to be. Now, why do I suspect this is false advertising? *wink*

On the other hand love marriages sound like fun too. You meet someone, you fall in love, there are trumpets and fanfare, followed by a few joint replicas of the bride/groom. And voila! Successful marriage.

Sounds easy right? I suppose the drawbacks of a love marriage could range from parental rejection to the fear of early marital discord.

I suppose they both have their pros and cons right. They both have the potential to start off wonderfully and descend into darkness. Or they could start off with some trouble and go onto be interesting and lovely phases of life.

Either way, it sounds too confusing to me. This whole trusting someone else with yourself and your feelings. Its a lot of faith to put into one person. Hmm well I guess we'll see as time goes on.

Interesting train of thought though - I wonder what people in these relationships would say.

Going through the motions

I didn't think I'd feel calm after handing in the thesis.

It was expected by everyone else I know, but I seemed to have missed that memo. I didn't panic until the last 3hours. That's a little.. odd? I suppose. I just didn't feel the real need to panic. I knew what I was handing in wasn't the overall best I could have done, but factoring in time constraints and other factors not exactly within my control, I figured, well, I can be glad Im doing as well as I am.

Is that too much glass half full mentality? Probably, for most. But I like seeing the gladness in situations. It works for me. Besides, everyone I know freaks out so much over so many things, someone has to be calm right?

And when I do freak out, I love how everyone helps out. My friends are awesome. Well, most of you are.

Right then, this was my post thesis blah faze post. Tomorrow we move onto the world of the titans.

And for that we can all be glad.

Agent152: Wisdom shared

Agent152 sent me this fantastic speech made by a brilliant character on critically acclaimed television show Jack&Bobby- its wonderful for all university students - thought I'd share the wisdom--

Grace McCallister's Moonlight Address to the students of Plains State University
Good evening. I want to welcome you tonight to... a renaissance.
For some of you this night marks a return to your college life, for some of you a new beginning. And so, upon the eve of the tremendous journey upon which you are all embarking, I'd like to offer you a thought to take with you. Listen carefully: you will fail here. All of you. College is not the culmination of your high school career. It is the beginning of your adult life. Only it is a slow sweet beginning that feels nothing like what life and all the attending obligations will eventually bring. So fail here... This is your chance.

Do things you know you can't do, or think you can't do but hope in your deepest most secret hidden heart that you can.

Be bad at things. Be embarrassed. Be vulnerable. Go out on a limb. Or two. Or twelve.

The harder you fall, the farther you'll rise. And the louder you fail, the clearer the distant bell of your future will ring. Failure is a gift. Welcome it. There are people who spend their lives wondering how they became the people they became, how certain chances passed them by and why they didn't take the road less traveled. Those people are not you.

You have the front-row seat to your own transformation. And in transforming yourself, you might just transform the world. Believe that, and embrace the new person you're becoming. This is your moment. Now. Not ten minutes from now, not tomorrow, really now. Know that, truly in your bones, and wake up each morning remembering it. And then keep going.

Caped Crusader Twosomes

We all have them. Smallscreen couples you just can't help but love. These are my current favourite twosomes - not lovers, just friends who share well, from fluids to lines with everything in between!

10. Holmes & Watson

If you've ever read a Sherlock mystery you'll see the appeal. They share a largely detrimental relationship, where Holmes is provided with a regular 'simpleton,' much like the readers - to bounce his ideas off of. Works really well however, as Watson develops into the underdog I most certainly, was rooting for.

"By heavens, Holmes!"

9. Spike & Giles

Alrite, so maybe not necessarily a bestfriend duo, but the scenes between these two are rife with detestation, fear, threats, wit and sarcasm that I just adore! Not to mention their relationship really does progress from mortal enemies and food source to room mates and later mortal enemies again!

"You know, for someone who's got "Watcher" on his resume', you might want to cast an eye to the front door every now and again."

8. Dresden & Murphy

One of my all time favourite wizard / detective duos. Harry's a wizard and Murphy's a cop. Perfect! They bicker, they banter and like a later couple on the list they are destined to be together. What can I say? I like happy endings!

"It comes to me like the clearbeam of sunlight!"

7. Grey & Yang

Meredith and Christina have an equation similar to what I had with Anita - there is zero tolernace for bullshit and absolute refusal to be anything other than brutally honest. There are no friends quite like the ones you have at 15; so Grey and Yang constitute this for me.

"You're the messy one."
"No, no, my apartment's messy, my locker's messy, but I am not messy. Sometimes you have like food and stuff in your hair."

6. Castle & Beckett

Mystery writer with wit and a repetoire of comebakcs just waiting to be unleashed on all. Meets sexy, suave, awesome-haired female detective with her own demons - really, does it get much better than this?

"Did you know in the original Greek, 'tragedy' literally means 'goat song'? I know, doesn't make any sense to me either, but whatever that first story was, I can't help but think, bad things must have happened to that goat.."

5. Mal & Crew

Alrite, so its not exactly a twosome- but conversation with Mal is just simply.. divine! Nathan Fillion who portrays both Castle and Mal does so with so much un airbrushed wit its hard not to fall in deep lust with the man- i mean his characters. The captn of a spaceship carrying regular forms of [illegal] loot and cargo that require ingenius disguises, whats not to love?

"If anyone gets nosy, just...you know... shoot 'em. "
"Shoot 'em?"
"Politely."

4. Harry Potter & Ron Weasley

Hermione shuold probably feature in this tag, however I feel the friendship between Ron and Harry deserves a special mention. All those late night chats in the dorm, the frequent life saving and yearlt tradition of battling the great evil with witty - and fearful- banter, perfect, just *sniffle perfect.

"There you go, Harry," Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fiber!"

3. Dean & Sam Winchester

Two HOT brothers. Hunting demons and things that go bump in the night. With predictable but humorous dialogue. Jensen Ackles. Really, do I need to elaborate further? Oh, he went to hell! Survived and came back. Sure, he had to get the guilty on for a while afterwards, but really, it was totally worth it to see him all sweaty and sexily tied up..

"So burning the body had no effect on that thing?"
"Sure it did – now it’s really pissed."

2. Merlin & Arthur

Its a century where the men are sexy, dorky and magical. Why, oh why am I in this awful period of time where the men are neither of the three? The story of Arthur and Merlin is old, we all know it on some level, this show make them the same age and turns foe into friend - cannot wait for the second season, you just know Art is not going to be impressed when he realises Merlin is oh so very much sexier with his magic then Art himself is with his sword.. although, that does have a certain appeal..

"Wow, and how long have you been training to be a pratt?"
"You can't address me like that."
"Sorry... How long have you been training to be a pratt... my Lord?"

1. Veronica Mars & Wallace Finnel

Yep, they are my most favourite caped crusaders- wel maybe not caped. But the friendship that develops after V cuts W down from the flagpole, gold. The way they are always there for one another, its just perfect and all of this is done with minimal actual speaking- they are just actions, and thats probably the best form of friendship Ive ever seen *wink*

Thanks to you, I now have the reputation of being a jock-sniffer.

In all my glory

Some days, the image is perfectly tuned.

the wisdom in vanilla chai tea

There lingers a soft, but tangent taste of vanilla and tea leaves as soon as the cup has been moved. Each sip and slurp enlivens every last tastebud of my tongue.

Thessy begins with a blank piece of paper where several thoughts are formed in thick, black, times new roman characters. Every sentence seems wrong and somehow requiring serious improvement.

As the hot liquid coats the insides of my mouth it allows each taste bud a chance to savour the freshly sugared feel of it.

Each word has serious contemplation behind it - sometimes the words have sprung so quickly from my mind through to my fingers, there has not been a beat between the actions.

Vanilla is one of my favourite things. The scent, the taste, the aroma when it is mixed with tea, each form it comes in: tea, cream, colouring, paint, food. Never am I not biased when it is in the list.

Writing is one of my favourite things. The power of a word, of thoughts expressed well. The feel of a good sentence as it leaves your mind and forms on the page. The emotions others can invoke through the simply complicated tool of language. It is a skill some learn, others command, and few master.

While the fascination with vanilla continues, the fascination with thessy is coming to an end.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..

Confessions of the be-lated

I think belated is a term applied, generally to those who have died. Passed on. Croaked. Left their aged and wrinkly bodies for the glory of youth and false hope? That act, you know.

Totally applies to Em from Meg Cabot's Airhead and me at the moment. Em has her brain transplanted from her dead body to the live body of a supermodel. She is technically declared dead and buried, only to look in the mirror, feel herself mentally capable but physically repulsive. Well, repulsive to only her brain that is, everyone else loves Nikki's body. Especially Stark enterprises whom she models for.

Im in a similar situation. Oh, put down the phone! I am not being transplanted to anyone's body - much to my chargrin - simply, there is far too much activity in my mind and not enough in my fingers.

She imagined progress to be a square, solid substance of metal; it flew past like the brilliant burst of breath filled bubbles one blows through a bubbler.

There are something like 5 days between me and a thesis deadline.
A few more than that between Jude's birthday and my presence at it.
Some more plus those will bring a night of boardgames.
Another one and Me and Mrs Khanna shall party.
Hopefully by the sixteenth dawn I shall be at Sam's dinner.
A moon past that and there shall be Dotter-love.
Following that a little beachparty with Chabi.
Next some graduation cake and a flight to London with agent152.

All in all, if the next five days dont leave me dejected and empty there shall be a multitude of moments to look forward too.

I insist on having a movies-you've-always-wanted-to-see night with mon and agent152 + the dotters before departure. Everything else may be left for later and after.

agent152 has promised me 500 days of summer and her favourite where the wild things are - IF i accomplish all tasks relating to thesis by monday. This may sound fair, but it really isnt.. its what I like to think of as blackmail *wink* and its working.. so no complaints!

I dont remember if agent152 was wished a loud and boistrous happy birthday on here.. so this image from me to you shall say happy 22nd with atleast 50 more [with me] to come!

And if your reading this, which you probably are, thanks for today agent152. Really, thank you - and we shall bring in christmas and 2010 with such fanfare as never before *wink*

I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.