Quote of the Week

'Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

It was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

"Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."'

-Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird

The Pursuit of Procrastination

Confession time!
I procrastinate. A lot.

Then again, which kid doesn't?

I mean, I've seen the most annoyingly smart kid in my class hide a novel behind a textbook and read.
With pending homework.
In a class allotted to finish that homework.
A week before the exams start.

I rest my case.

Okay, so we all put off things. Especially before exams- that's when we feel like doing anything else but study. We feel like staring into space. We feel like playing random games with our younger siblings (who don't have exams- the lucky kids). We feel like having hour-long conversations with that boring cousin we avoid. I mean, we prefer cleaning our rooms to studying. (Okay, maybe not clean them completely, just shove the piles of stuff on the desk and the bed into cupboards and push everything into something -loosely- resembling order.)

And of course during the exams, the movies you want to watch release, and the internet and newspapers are exploding with cast interviews and movie reviews and whatnot.
And this time...the WORLD CUP is during the exams.
Luckily, my parents let me watch the India matches (and I don't really care about the others).
Speaking of which, India's definitely in the quarterfinals. Nine straight victories, counting CWC 2011! How awesome is that?

Okay, where am I going with this?

Right. Procrastination and exams.
It's exam time and it's that time of the year when you just DO NOT feel like studying. (Okay, so we never feel like studying, but this is when you're seriously, actively willing to do almost anything but study because normally, when given a choice between helping our annoying little brothers or sisters and studying, we choose to study, but now...)
So you put it off.

You're like, "Yeah, I'll go study now," and you take your iPod to listen to music, close the door, and then you just switch your attention to the songs. You start scrolling through your playlists and albums, like, "Okay, now Taylor Swift or Aashiqui 2? Ooh, I haven't heard YJHD in a while! Badtameez dil it is!"
And then, 'cause you can't decide which song to play next, you choose to shuffle the songs, which reminds you of Party Rock Anthem and you pause to go, "Everyday I'm shufflin'!" before wondering what exactly the lyrics of Nagada Sang Dhol are and you replay it a couple of times to figure it out, and then you get bored with that one and move on to....you get the idea.

Or you sit down to"study" and then you get up every two minutes to drink water, grab a snack, drink some more water, grab another snack, get yourself a pen because the one you're using ran out of ink, check the score of the England-New Zealand match even though you couldn't care less who won, munch some muruku, see when the next Grand Slam tournament starts, cut your nails, drink a glass of juice, check the time and refill your juice glass, by which time you feel exhausted and you decide that you've "studied" enough.

Girls will be just itching to sort out jewellery, look for that kaajal stick that's been missing for a couple of weeks or try out that hairstyle that Deepika Padukone had in the song Kabira for Aditi's wedding in YJHD.
And me? I do all of that and work on blog posts (I haven't tried the hairstyle yet, though..will do so)
Because I have exams this whole week and I'm sitting here writing a blog post.

That's the way we are.
(Just the way you are... Stop. I shouldn't let my mind wander. Shouldn't think of Bruno Mars songs...especially not an a cappella version from Pitch Perfect...STOP!)

I call this phenomenon the Pursuit of Procrastination.
Because it sounds fancy.
(I'm so fancy...Oh, I am really getting distracted.)
And it's kind of like The Pursuit of Happiness.
Even though I haven't watched it.
My friends claim they cried over it.

Also it sounds precocious.
(If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious -supercalifragalisticexpialidocious! I love that song. I'd better check where that Mary Poppins DVD is...Julie Andrews is awesome. Note to self: write a post on Sound of Music.)

I'd better wrap this up before I go off on a tangent (math reference!) and bore you all so much that you go and start studying.
Oh wow. That would be weird. And would ruin the point of this post.

So!
The Pursuit of Procrastination, followed by nearly every school kid I know.
And possibly adults as well.
Better check and see....

Problems Of A Bookworm

For this post, I've decided to write about something that I, personally, and quite a few of my friends face.

So, without further ado (what a weird word), I present to you...
PROBLEMS OF A BOOKWORM!

In a world with waves of fantasy and dystopian bestsellers with strangely similar aspects (because hey, which kid who's read the books hasn't drawn comparisons between Divergent and The Hunger Games? Or noticed that, for some reason, in several series the protagonist's mentor is elderly and bearded?), there are lots of "geeks" and people belonging to "fandoms".
Why don't we take a look at some of the problems we fans face?

1) The Merciless Movie Murder

This is when you find out that a book you like is being made into a movie, and this is your reaction: "OHMYGODICANTBELIEVETHEYREFINALLYMAKINGITINTOAMOVIEINEEDTOWATCHIT".

And then you wait on pins and needles, counting down.
Finally the movie releases, and you go to the theatre (or watch it online) and...

The director's RUINED the plot. Whoever directed the movie has taken the plot, cast Sectumsempra on it, and presented it to the public for viewing.
So naturally, you're thinking, "Did you NOT read the book?"
An example?

Enough said.
(Photo from imdb)

And of course, Sea of Monsters is another example. Because movie sequels are almost always not as good as the first one. Which means that, when the first movie is really bad, the second's even worse.

Or, another case, there's a totally awesome character, who's smart, or sarcastic, or strong, or good-looking, or some combination of the above, and the person they cast, or how they write that character in the script, soooo does not live up to your expectations.
(Like, I don't know, maybe how in Sea of Monsters, Percy says "We gotta get out of here" and Annabeth says, "How?" Hello? Lady, you're the daughter of Athena. You're a strategist. And you're sarcastic. You do not, when Percy says something totally obvious, ask, "How?")

Worst-case scenario- combination of both. Bad casting and murdered plot. Painful is an understatement.

2) The Redundant Reference

This is when you make a reference to something you like- a book or a movie- and NOBODY gets it.

Like when you say, "No, we didn't carpool. We took a ride on a magical fifty-ton metal dragon."
Or, "Oh, yeah, this'll be fun. About as much fun as being chosen as a tribute for the Quarter Quell."
And the response is, "Uh... Okay."

This is how the conversation goes:

Person: What took you so long?
You: Sorry, Sunshine. Traffic was murder.
Person: What? This is school, dude. There are no cars in here.
You: That was a reference actually...
Person: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, those two are friends again.
You: Really? What happened?
Person: So, that girl, she said she was 90% about not talking to the other girl, and the other girl slaps her. And this one's all like, "What was that for?" And she says, "The other 10%" and they both start laughing and talking again. It was random. I mean, seriously? That makes no sense.
You: Ha! Good one.
Person: What do you mean?
You: The 90% and 10% thing. It would be better if they had been in an elevator, though.
Person: Whatever. And then, one guy got bad grades and he was sulking, like, all through lunch, and the other guy asks me why he's upset. And I told him, and he says, "So?" I mean, that's just heartless!
You: That's horrible! You should've said, "Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all do."
Person: Huh?

UGH.
I don't know. Is this just me?

3) The Clueless Companion

This is what happens when you've just watched a movie or read a book, and you're in shock mode, and nobody sympathises.
Like maybe you just read Deathly Hallows and someone just died (because there are so many who do!) and you HAVE to tell someone, so you go up to someone and say,
"Oh my gosh, I just finished Deathly Hallows. How could Rowling be so cruel?"
And they say, "Uhhhh...what?"

Okay, so some HP fans I know will be like What? EVERYONE knows Harry Potter! Nobody's gonna say that.
To which I say, Uh, no.
Because not everyone knows Harry Potter. And, blasphemous as it may sound, that's okay.

(Okay, the fans reading this, could you wait till your rage cools and then continue reading?)

Back to what I was saying...
Maybe you just watched Mockingjay Part 1 and you're like:
"No. This can't be happening. It can't just END like that!" (If you haven't watched it -- spoiler alert --  it ends with a shot of Peeta tied to a hospital bed and trying to free himself. Seriously. I'm no obsessive fan of THG but that's just cruel.)
And you go to school or wherever and tell someone about it and they say, "Oh, that's nice."

NO! It is NOT nice! I'm in shock mode here! Understand already!
But noooo. They don't know, so they can't get it.
It's tough, okay?


So yeah, that's it for now. Three of the problems faced by bookworms.
To those of you who are fangirls/fanboys, I hope you can relate.
To those of you who aren't, well, then, now you know how we feel. And now maybe you know how to handle a person like this.
As in stay away from a fan in shock mode over a book or movie.
Or, if you're confronted by one, make soothing noises and find an excuse to leave.
It might work.
Results aren't guaranteed.

Warning: I May Insult Draco Malfoy. Badly.

Imagine an blond adolescent boy in robes, strutting about with an arrogant expression, sneering at half his classmates, flanked by two slow-thinking sidekicks.

Draco and his sidekicks
from harrypotter.wikia.com

Meet Draco Malfoy. One of the (many) heartthrobs of the Harry Potter world. Pansy Parkinson fawns over him. Many fangirls go misty-eyed at the mention of his name. Sentimental fans pair him up with various female characters, one of the most popular "pairings" being Dramione- Draco and Hermione. (Then again, fans can come up with really impossible pairings)

But why? What is Malfoy's appeal?

He's arrogant. He discriminates people based on their so-called "blood status". He's so much of a daddy's boy that that term is rather weak: he idolises his father to the point that he blindly would follow anything Lucius says. Most of his arrogance comes from his supposed "status" which, really, is derived from Lucius' position in the Ministry and reputation as a rich man from an old pureblood family. He's used to being important, and prefers to be in power as far as possible (look at how he joins the Inquisitorial Squad under Umbridge, and that condescending line in the train in the fifth book: "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments.")

He's undoubtedly the typical snooty kid, only with a vindictive spirit thrown in for good measure (take, for example, the lyrics of the Slytherin version of "Weasley is our King" and the badges flashing "Potter Stinks" during the Triwizard Tournament). Merlin's beard, he even has two personal slow-thinking bodyguard-ish kids.

Really? And people like this guy? He's a creep. You've heard of inferiority complex? This kid's got superiority complex. He's a bully. End of story.
Or is it?

It's in the second half of the series that you start seeing another side to Draco. He's shown as desperate, afraid, and very insecure ("You don't know what I'm capable of, you don't know what I've done!")
If he's so afraid, why is he a Death Eater?


Lucius, Draco's hero, is a Death Eater and so is Narcissa. Bellatrix, his aunt, is the Dark Lord's "most loyal follower". He was a baby when Voldemort attacked the Potters, but he grew up among purebloods, many of them ex-Death Eaters who had managed to avoid Azkaban. He was brought up to believe whole-heartedly in blood status and the power of the Dark Arts (at the end of the fourth book, on the train, Draco tells Harry: "You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, the first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang out with riff-raff like this! Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first!")

So why is he a Death Eater? Simple. He's practically forced into it. His family, and close friends of the Malfoys, more or less bully him into taking the Dark Mark. And as Sirius says, "Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death." Look at what happened to Regulus Black (who became a Death Eater at age sixteen, like Draco, and happens to be Narcissa's first cousin). Or even Igor Karkaroff (who managed to survive for a whole year before being killed by the Death Eaters for his treachery). Draco doesn't want that to happen to him.

He can't back out- but by the sixth book, he wants to. Draco tells Dumbledore that the Dark Lord will kill him if he doesn't do what he has been asked - to kill Dumbledore. ("Don't you understand? I have to do this! I have to kill you! Or he's going to kill me!") 

No, Draco! Don't listen to Voldemort!
from harrypotter.wikia.com

At the beginning of his sixth year, Draco seems ready to fulfil the task Voldemort has set him- he has a plan to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and works on it all year (it works). He put Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse for almost the whole year. He tried twice to kill Dumbledore, but both attempts failed (one attempt ended in Katie Bell being cursed and the other in Ron Weasley being poisoned). He is now feeling the pressure to carry out Voldemort's orders and is probably less sure about his capability to kill Dumbledore. The Death Eater status is probably losing its glamour. He's terrified of what he's being asked- no, ordered- to do. It's almost exactly what happened to Regulus.

After the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, he does what he is called on to do as a Death Eater. However, he is reluctant to do so (he hesitates when Bellatrix asks him to identify Harry, Ron and Hermione at Malfoy Manor), which clearly shows that he no longer wants to be a Death Eater.

It's in the sixth year that Draco changes. The movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, showcases this really well. Which brings me to another reason why people- such as the fangirls I mentioned earlier- like Draco Malfoy.

This reason can be summed up in two words.
Tom. Felton.
Do I hear the sighs of fangirls?

Aha, I hit the nail on the head! I agree, he did justice to Draco Malfoy in the movie. I personally thought the way he portrayed Draco's reactions to everything was very characteristic. Just look at the photo above. That is one of the best, most characteristic expressions I have ever seen in a movie adaptation of a book.

So, two reasons for people liking Draco Malfoy- one, that you can feel sorry for him, and two, Tom Felton's portrayal of the character.

Tomorrow brings joy to fans of Draco Malfoy everywhere and will probably convert more sceptics to Dracoism, because JK Rowling will be nice to all of us eager fans of the series and post interesting things on Pottermore. This will start tomorrow, and one of these posts will be about none other than....
(drum roll, please)
DRACO MALFOY!!!

All fans of Harry Potter (and Draco Malfoy), celebrate! We're going to find out lots more about the people in the series and other fascinating tidbits!

So see you all the next time I post something (which may actually happen soon, given that it is likely the new Pottermore info will provoke me into writing), and until then...
DRACO MALFOY'S A JERK!

Just kidding!

The Puzzle Ring

The Puzzle Ring, by Kate Forsyth, is a book I discovered about a year ago. This is a slightly edited version of a review I posted on Goodreads.

Title: The Puzzle Ring
Author: Kate Forsyth

Hannah Rose is a twelve-almost-thirteen-year-old girl who lives in Australia with her mother, Roz. Years ago, just the day after her birth, Hannah's father Robert disappeared, somewhere in Loch Lomond, Scotland.
She comes home early one day, having been punished at school, to find a letter that turns her life upside-down.
Her great-grandmother is a countess.
In the letter, the Countess of Wintersloe, Hannah's great-grandmother, asks her and Roz to come to Scotland to see her.

In Wintersloe Castle, they meet the old, frail countess and her cook, Linnet. Hannah makes friends in the town- Donovan, the motherless boy who loves animals; Max, the science-crazy son of the Wintersloe gardener, Genie; and Scarlett, the dramatic daughter of the general store's owner. All four of them were born within four miles of each other, on four consecutive days of the same year- first Hannah, then Donovan, then Max and finally Scarlett.

And Hannah finds out about the magic the town talks of, and the curse on the Roses- how Eglantyne, the fairy wife of one of the Roses, was burnt to death and how she laid a curse on her husband's family:

By fever, fire, storm and sword
your blood shall suffer this bane.
No joy or peace for Wintersloe's lord,
till the puzzle ring is whole again.
The thorn tree shall not bud,
the green throne shall not sing,
until the child of true blood
is crowned the rightful king.

All the legends Hannah has read and loved are real!
On certain days of the year, gates to the Otherworld open- and one such gate is in Fairknowe, the hill near Wintersloe. But it is dangerous to go through, as after Eglantyne's death, the Unseelie Court, the 'bad' fairies, rule the Otherworld.
On one of the 'thin' days, Robert found one of the four parts of the puzzle ring, and hid it away. And on another of those days, he disappeared, trying to break the curse.

Two months after her thirteenth birthday, on one of the 'thin' days, Hannah, Donovan, Scarlett and Max go through the fairy gate, back in time to the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots- soon after Englantyne was killed.

Now the four friends, along with a younger Linnet (a fairy) and a new acquaintance, Angus, must look for the remaining three parts of the puzzle ring and try to break the Rose's family curse, without being caught by the black witch, now queen of the fairies, Irata.
And when they do they need to find a 'child of true blood' who will take the throne.

What happened that night, the night that Robert disappeared? Did Eglantyne actually die? Is Robert alive? Who is the child of true blood? Will the friends finish what Robert started and break the curse of the Roses?

To find out, read the book. Or you can read the spoiler below.
It's a really good book, and an excellent choice for fantasy lovers.

Happy Birthday!

Harry Potter fans, today is the day. The thirty-fourth birthday of the Chosen One...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY JAMES POTTER!

Dear Harry,
You've had so many adventures. The quest for the Philosopher's Stone, which was almost like a live version of a video game. The search for Slytherin's monster, and the fight in the Chamber of Secrets. The search for Sirius Black, who turned out to be your godfather. The Triwizard Tournament, as the youngest participant ever and the only non-Death Eater to see Voldemort's return. You ran Dumbledore's Army under Umbridge's nose and fought Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. You lost Sirius and heard the prophecy in one day. You searched for the Half-blood Prince, who you found was your hated teacher, Severus Snape. You learnt about Horcruxes, and you saw your headmaster killed. You searched for Voldemort's Horcruxes as the Second Wizarding War hung overhead, a storm about to break. You saw many you loved die and found that you were Voldemort's last Horcrux. You sacrificed yourself to defeat Voldemort once and for all. You survived and killed Voldemort. You became the master of all three Deathly Hallows.

You had millions of people, fictional and real, rooting for you, cheering you on. You took us out of our own lives for a while. We laughed and cried with you. You took the world by storm.

Thanks for being with us. You're on my bookshelf, and in the houses and hearts and minds of millions around the world. We're still cheering for you.
Happy birthday!
-Purple Dragonfly

Holes

Oh my goodness, look at that, I haven't posted for almost two months!
How horrifyingly embarassing.

Holes happens to be a book that I personally think is awesome. It won the Newbery medal, which is, as far as I know, an award given in the USA to what the judges think is the best children's book of the year.

Don't quit reading this in disgust after the term "children's book", because a lot of those books are targeted towards teenagers as well, and even adults enjoy them.
Okay, so if you're not convinced...well, here's the review I posted on Goodreads last year.


When I read this book, I decided that it totally deserved that Newbery Medal.
Holes is the story of Stanley Yelnats IV, a singularly unlucky guy from a singularly unlucky family. His family was supposedly cursed when Stanley's no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather broke a promise to a fortune teller.
His dad is an inventor trying to invent a way for shoes not to smell. When a pair of shoes falls out of the sky and hits him on the head, he thinks it's fate. Maybe his luck is changing...
Apparently not. Those shoes once belonged to legendary baseball player, Clyde Livingstone, called Sweetfeet.
Stanley is given a choice- jail or Camp Green Lake. He chooses Camp Green Lake.
There's no lake at Camp Green Lake, a 'correctional facility' in the middle of the dry Texas desert.

Once, the desert used to be a lake, and there was a town. The schoolteacher there, Katherine Barlow, fell in love with an African American onion-seller named Sam. When the townspeople found out, they shot dead Sam.
The sheriff refused to help, and asked Katherine for a kiss instead.
Three days after Sam was killed, Miss Barlow shot the sheriff and left a lipstick mark on his forehead.
She became the feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and the lake dried up. Twenty years later, when confronted by two people she once knew, she refused to tell anyone where the money she's stolen was.
They could dig holes in the desert for a hundred years, and they wouldn't find the treasure anywhere. Soon after saying this, Kate died from the bite of a poisonous yellow-spotted lizard, laughing.

If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, he becomes a good boy. And that's what happens at Camp Green Lake. The strange Mr. Sir and the mysterious, intimidating Warden make the boys dig a hole every single day. There aren't any fences or walls- because the camp is the only place that has water for miles around. It's a prison.
The boys at Camp Green Lake all have nicknames, and soon Stanley's new name is Caveman. The boy he becomes the closest to is Zero, a quiet boy who everyone dismisses as stupid. When Zero runs away, Stanley wants to find out what happened, and follows him.
Although he doesn't know it, running after Zero will lead to the breaking of two curses- the Yelnats family curse and the curse on Green Lake.

This was a really well-written, captivating book. I stay with my statement- it totally deserved the Newbery Medal it got.


Yes, I'm serious, Stanley and his family refer to his great-great-grandfather as his *deep breath* 'no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather'.
It's engrossing and funny and a really good book, so I recommend you read it at the first chance you get!