Fin: Oddly Normal

ODDLY NORMAL Volume 1 by Otis Frampton was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be. Frankly, I didn't care too much for it. Maybe because I was reading it at the gym, or because I was not in the right mood, but either way, I wasn't attached to Oddly.

I did, however, liked the whole bit about the power of believing in something. Or not believing in something. I thought that was pretty good, even though it's not original. I also liked the irony of the history lesson superimposed with the English lesson. I wonder if this is a foreshadowing of the history teacher's role in Oddly's adventures in Fignation.

Reading: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis

Currently reading: THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO HANDWRITING ANALYSIS. I've always been drawn to stuff about personalities and graphology has always been something I wanted to learn more about.

The text is a bit dated, but so far, I think the stuff Lowe is covering is still relevant. It's just funny to read “from the 1990s and on” every now and again.

Part one covers the basics; the history and two schools of graphology and what handwriting analysis can and can't reveal. Good to know. But I'm still itching to learn more. Onwards!

Movie: KICK-ASS

KICK-ASS was awesome!

Loved Hit Girl/Mindy. So sarcastic and cute! But I kinda wonder about the character's psychological development, being trained to fight and using such foul language. Not to mention all the people she killed.

Couldn't really laugh at some of the violent scenes...slap stick isn't really my thing. Ex: the part where Kick-Ass gets stabbed and then ran over by a car.

Noticed that the ethnic diversity among main/supporting characters were kinda lacking, especially since it took place in New York.

(Also noticed that Dave wore rounded glasses and had dark messy/curly hair. Maybe it IS a universal geek look?)

It was fun; good way to kick off the weekend.

Fin: The Book of Magic

I just finished THE BOOKS OF MAGIC by Neil Gaiman. It was pretty clever how it's divided into 4 chapters and each chapter was illustrated by four different people, almost like a portrayal of the four different characters and the realms they travel to.

Aside from that, I'm very surprised by the number of characters in literature I've come across that resemble J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. I wonder if Rowling is aware of these resemblances.

Here, we have Tim Hunter from Gaiman's BOOKS OF MAGIC. Tim even has an owl, like Harry, although the owl was magicked from a yo-yo (hence the name Yo-Yo).

And here we have Thomas from Margaret Mary Kimmel’s MAGIC IN THE MIST, sporting a scarf similar to one Harry would wear.

I wonder if messy black hair and big round glasses is just a universal look for a typical geek. *shrug*

Fin: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things

Just finished reading THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. It's so sad!!! =(

Still thinking about the fate of La Esmeralda and Quasimodo and how cruel people can be. Also wondering why Disney felt so compelled to adapt Hugo's work.

I didn't really like how La Esmeralda was portrayed as weak and defenseless in a male dominated society/setting. But I suppose that was common in Hugo's time, and maybe he was trying to portray her as innocent as possible and make her plight all the more woeful. Me, I probably would have cussed out Phoebus and thrown as big of a fit as possible to make them see Phoebus was alive. I probably would have also shanked the priest. Yeah...

I'm almost curious about Disney's HND 2. Almost.

Also read COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE NIGHT THINGS by Ted Naifeh. I really liked the introduction where Kelly Crumrin talks about kids liking stories that aren't all sugar coated. It's a nice contrast to the Disney idea.

Reading: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Currently reading: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

So far, so good. Skipped over a couple chapters because Hugo was describing the city of Paris and I was at the gym at the time (although, I probably would have skipped those chapters anyway).

I saw the Disney version of HND, and it's so different. I mean, I knew that already, but still, it's so different from the book. (On a side note, my friend saw the book in my car, and he said, "At least it's the real version." Lol.)

Curious to know how Hugo wraps it all up. Outs.