Push the Button: Fandom Stlye

So, I saw this post on Facebook the other day and it really intrigued me. All these choices are really, really hard. I long to be in a lot of these fictional realms, and I initially didn’t know what to pick. As such, I decided to analyse each scenario here.

Red Button – You get to spend a year at Hogwarts but you’re not magical

This one on the surface seems a very good deal. I mean, you still get to go to Hogwarts no matter what. However, isn’t the whole point to be magical? It’s the school of witchcraft and wizardry. You couldn’t participate in lessons, would certainly get ridiculed by the Slytherins and, if it were me, become depressed and even resentful towards magic. Plus, if these years in Hogwarts are during the timeline of the books, you would be at a major disadvantage. Imagine having no magic during the battle of Hogwarts. You’d be dead within the first hour, surely. So no, I don’t think this is the choice for me.

Orange Button – You’re the Doctor’s companion but you don’t remember your adventures

So… basically you become Donna Noble?

This wouldn’t be such a bad option. I mean, look at all the adventures they went on together. I guess it wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t remember it all, but it’s the experiences that count. And wouldn’t it hurt the Doctor more? He’d still remember you and all the fun/tears/near-death-experiences you shared together. As ever the Doctor must move on, but I’ve always noticed he’s really sad when he looses his companion.

Especially Rose Tyler

What, who said that…?

Yellow Button – Your favourite character falls in love with you but you can’t have a physical relationship

This would mean I could have a choice of Captain Hook (Once Upon a Time), Loki (Marvel’s Thor) – but happy pre-Thor Loki, not the megalomaniac one in Avengers – Kili (The Hobbit) or Dean Winchester (Supernatural), spend time with them, have a relationship with them, do everything with them but I couldn’t have sex with them? This sounds like the best idea so far! Sex isn’t what makes a relationship, after all. They would still be there to live with, to laugh with, the cuddle with – cuddles aren’t sex, so it still counts – and I could be intimate with them on every other level except the physical ones. People survive everyday, single or in a relationship, without sex, so I think I could too.

I don’t see a downside here.

Green Button – You become a Shadowhunter but will die at the age of 25

Hum.. This is tempting, as out of all the fandoms mentions thus far this is my main one. If someone asked me for my top three fandoms, I would say I was a Shadowhunter first. And since Shadowhunters are trained from birth, I would have had 25 years worth of Shadowhunter experiences. But the thing is, would I know I was going to die at 25? If I did I wouldn’t want it. That would be a horrible feeling, and one of impending doom all the time, weighing down on you… No, if I didn’t know I was going to die that would be better. Being a Shadowhunter is a thankless task but it is one that is needed, and I think it would give me a sense of being in the world. Plus, if I could be at the New York Institute during The Mortal Instruments or the London Institute during The Infernal Devices then life would never be dull.

Blue Button – You’re a demigod but your godly parent never claims you

You see, this is also very temping. Whilst I would feel a little miffed at being abandoned, I would get to spend all of my time in the Hermes Cabin with the Stoll Twins. Imagine how much fun that would be. Plus, I would still have the experience of being a demigod at Camp Half-Blood every summer – or would I be an all year camper? – so I don’t see a downside to this. I would still know that pegasi and satyrs are real, I would get to play capture the flag and sing around the camp-fire, and, while monsters would be trying to kill me, I would be a kick-ass Greek warrior very capable of defending myself. Plus, many other demigods survived without being claimed before the bill that Percy made Zeus pass as his reward for saving the planet. Again.

Purple Button – Sherlock falls in love with you but you can never say you love him back

To be honest, I don’t think that Sherlock is the kind of person who would say it very often himself. He is a sociopath, after all. I think ‘saying’ the words would be such a big thing in his relationships. If he did say it surely it would be to get something out of you, or an act like his brief relationship with Janine. With him, I think there wouldn’t be huge signs of affection, so as much as I would love to be able to say it to him, I think I could live around it.

However, as much as I love Sherlock as a character, I don’t think I could be in a relationship with him. I think I would give into the urge to strangle him far too often. Unless he liked that sort of thing… :p

Pink Button – You become Divergent but you take Tris’s place in the death serum room

Well, after quickly reminding myself as to what the death serum actually is – it’s been a while since I’ve read the book, don’t judge me – it seems that it has something to do with the ending of Allegiant, which I unfortunately haven’t read yet. As I gather, strong Divergent can resist it, as Tris does, so I would hope that I too were strong enough to, also. But, since I don’t know that much about it, I’m not going to press this button, just in case.

Brown Button – You can save Finnick’s life but you have to kill Peeta instead

Ouch. I don’t know if I could cope. I mean, I loved Finnik and hated it when he died (you can click here to read more about that), but then again how can anyone with a soul kill Peeta? Plus, wouldn’t Finnik hate himself and then hate you if he found out that you killed Peeta to save him? Wouldn’t Katnis have an(other) emotional breakdown? No, I don’t think I could do it; this is not the button for me.

Decision

This is so hard! After that discussion, I would say… the yellow button! I could totally live without sex for any of my favourite male characters. Or, if I decided on one of my favourite female characters, sex wouldn’t come into it anyway and I’d just get an amazing and inspirational friend. (But let’s be honest, I’d probably pick a guy). After all, I like to feed my inner romantic and fantasise about a loving but innocent relationship. Aw! 

What about you guys? What button would you press? Let me know in the comments!

 

Making Music

So yesterday i participated in the Great Orchestra Experiment. This was a collaboration between my orchestra and our adult, professional equivalent. We performed twice to primary school children, who were the ‘lab assistants’ and had to participate in experiments to do with various musical and sound features. All in all, it was really successful.

Our set list went as follows:
1. Mission: Impossible
2. Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, First Movement
3. Captain Ocane
4. Celebrate
5. Feeling Good
6. Soul Bossa Nova
7. Hall of the Mountain King
8. Superman March
9. Mambo (from West Side Story)

There were no hitches, except for one of e presenters being a bit bitch when her co-host didn’t call her by her ‘scientist name’. I mean, come on: there is no need to correct him in front of all the little kids. Although, it was really funny when a small child talked back to our conductor.

It was amazing to be a part of something so inspirational like that. As our hosts kept saying, I started out in their position, and The Great Orchestra Experiment was far more exciting than what I did. (Performing alongside the Halle Orchestra might be more prestigious, but TGOE was tonnes more fun!). If I were one of the kids in the audience, I would have loved it. I would have been far more interested to carry on my instrument off my own back instead of being forced into it by the school.

The only negative things that I would have to say about the whole day was that my instrument got mis-recognised twice. I play the bass clarinet, which looks like this:

Got that? Okay. It first got called an oboe, which looks like this:

I can sort of see it: they’re the same colour, both woodwind instruments. Yes, the oboe is a lot smaller, but it was a small child that said so, that I can live with. But then it got called a bassoon, which is this:

Does that look anything like a bass clarinet? No! And it got called that by a member of the orchestra! The traitor! I was offended on the bass clarinet’s behalf.

Other than that minor incident, it was a truly successful day. Both concerts, on in the morning and one in the afternoon, went well with no problems. I will be glad to (hopefully) never do Superman ever again, as the bass part is very tiring. The problems came when i had to go back to school in the evening to perform in our Spring Concert. I was shattered! When i was there I had to play my normal clarinet and the tenor saxophone. *Sigh* Busy, busy bee…

Smash Hit

My friend got me obsessed with this game. The premise is quite simple: hot the glass pyramids with balls. It is literally that simple. But oddly addicting. And really quite stressful – there are glass panels and door switches you have to open and some that pop up out of no where and… Ugh, it was so embarrassing when I squeaked in surprise at the randomly appearing panels. Now I return to it, and will probably continue to into the twilight. Thanks, Isabella; there goes my sleep.

Rehearsals

You know it’s a bad day when instead of missing lessons all afternoon I ditched rehearsals and voluntarily went to class. I stayed for the first set of rehearsals because I still struggle with the piece, but for the second set I went back to lesson. I just can’t stand Miss near concert dates. She turns into a malicious dictator when she’s behind the conductor’s stand. It’s a startling transformation. Still, now I only have the concert to do and that,s the last of it for another year. (We don’t continue into the Summer Term because of people leaving for exams and what not). Give me the strength to get through this! Only one more time, only one more time…

Mother’s Day

First of all, do not panic – today isn’t mothers day and you all didn’t forget. I just went present shopping today, is all.

I’ve always had the same complaint about Mother’s Day. Yes, I recognise that it’s important that we remember everything our mums do for us and that without them we wouldn’t be in this worlds blah blah blah, but (like Father’s day and Valentine’s day) it’s just a bit over commercialised for me. In every shop I went in, on every site I’ve been on, it’s mothers day this and mothers day that, but shouldn’t we tell our mums everyday how special and amazing they are? Wouldn’t that be more of a present for them?

If I’m ever lucky enough to become a mum in the future, I’m going to specifically ask that a fuss isn’t made about me. Sure, a card and some chocolates may be nice, but nothing extravagant like what I have seen advertised. In truth, I don’t see the point when mums are special all the year round, and not just on one day that changes date every year.

No Colour, No Doctor, No Hope

So, I was talking to a friend of mine in Graphics this morning, and he mentioned how he would (jokingly) prefer to “live in black and white like they did in the 30’s”. It made me laugh, and I replied: “Why, would you prefer 50 shades of grey?” We both laughed and got on with work.

Then, in Physics, we were learning about the brightness of stars and how this was called ‘flux’. The same friend from earlier said “Oh, like a flux copassitor from Back to the Future!” And my teacher replied, “No, they’re completly different things. Back to the Future is just a film. It’s not real. And neither is Dr Who.”

Now, I make Sir sound like a bit of a buzz kill, but he meant it in good faith. He did entertain us when we were doing about gamma radiation exposure and I brought up the Incredible Hulk. It got me thinking though – how important are these things to us? I mean, I know that colour is a real thing whilst (in this universe, at least) the Doctor remains in the realms of fiction, but what would happen to us if these things didn’t exist?

I suppose if we all lived in a world without colour no one would know any better, but I came up with this idea, kind of similar to The Knife of Never Letting Go, where all the colour was kept in this one part of the world. What would it be like to stumble across that? What would the consequences be? Who would be in charge of regulating the colour? Why had all the colour left the world and converged in this one spot in the first place?

Sounds like a good plot to a book, but knowing what I know now, if I were suddenly transported into that world it would be horrible. I love the vibrancy of colours – the variety and range of the entire colour spectrum. I feel it would also be a very bland world. Imagine Monet’s Water Lilies without colour. It would mostly be black and very dark grey, I suppose.

And what if Dr Who didn’t exist? All the Whovians wouldn’t be here for a starters, and Superwholock on Tumbr would just be Superlock, but more serious things would happen. (As a side note, the iPad I am writing this on recognises Superwholock as a word. Go figure). Generations of people have loved and adored that show. It still goes on now and, even if there is argument over Steven Moffat’s writing, new people are becoming hooked every day. That sci-fi show has united people of all generations, even from different countries, through love for the Doctor and a yearning for a man in a blue box to grab your hand and shout “Run!” Amazing things have come from this show, too: cosplay, art, FanFiction, conventions, a fetish or two for bow ties and love that spans the globe.

It would be a very different if these things didn’t exist. I guess that goes for most things we take for granted – unless you’re show is on haitus, as Dr Who is currently. I think that some of these things we always expect to be there. Colour has always been a feature of the world, and Dr Who has been running for 50 years now. It’s amazing and wonderful and would be devastating if something were to happen to either of these things. I think that the world would be a very different place.

I’m not quite sure where this post is going, but it was just something that was on my mind today. As you can tell, I have a fair bit of time to think these things over. I probably shouldn’t have been thinking of thinking of this in Physics when I really need to pay attention for that…

Hospital Visits

So, yesterday I went to the hospital to see my best friend who has been there for three weeks now. I have always hated hospitals because I haven’t had the greatest of experiences with them. I was actually quite a nice room: kids wards always have the coolest themes. This one was called ‘safari’ and had lots of jungle animals there. It was very adorable.

The best thing? Francine was still Francine. She hadn’t changed, which is what usually happens by the time I get to visit people in hospital. She was the same crazy, funny, Benedict-Cumberbatch loving Francine. It was lovely to just get to sit and talk with her for an hour.

I might miss her like hell, but I know that she’s in the best place, and that if I had her with me all the time like I want to she wouldn’t get well and then she’s be away for longer. I’m not quite sure what’s actually wrong with her – she doesn’t want to worry me before my exams. I have been promised it isn’t anything too serious, so that’s eased to burden a little. I just hope that she gets better soon so I can have her back,

Once Upon a Time

So, I’m finally caught up with Season 3 of the ABC show Once Upon a Time. And oh. My. God. I thought Season 2 made no sense and mucked around with the traditional fairy tale. But Season 3?

There is no logic anymore!

But it is annoyingly clever.

I do love it so. Even if it messes with my head and leaves me with more questions at the end of an episode than it answers. What really got me was Rumplestiltskin’s father. I get how it happens, and in the context of the TV show it is fully explained, but it still messes with my head.

Now the annoying thing is that I have to wait until next week of the new episode. At least it’s not on hiatus or anything. Unlike Sherlock. I’m still bitter about that, Gaits…

And it hasn’t helped my addiction to Captain Hook. I’m still torn between Swanfire and Captain Swan, but I just want Killian to be happy. I think he deserves that much after all the shit he’s had to go through. Loosing his hand, loosing his love, loosing his hope: it would destroy lesser men. He’s just such a loveable rouge.

Questions and References

So, today in school all the teachers kept picking on me to answer questions. And I mean all the teachers. Every subject someone asked me answer something. Now, I have no problem answering questions – that I put up my hand to answer. I suppose they have to make sure that I’m paying attention (due to my last name I am usually sat at the back of classrooms) but today was ridiculous. No one else was picked on, so why me?

Thankfully, I did know what they answers were so didn’t make a fool out of myself.

In other news, I tried and failed to make a Loki fandom reference at lunch. My friend has bought some nachos from the canteen and was trying to eat them with a knife and fork. It took three of us to explain to her that that wasn’t the correct manner. Anyway, eventually she started to eat them with her hands like a normal human being.

So I said: “Is this not simpler?”

And I thought ‘Ooh! That’s the start of Loki’s speech in the Avengers! I’ll carry it on…’

I then continued: “Is this not your natural state?”

And… no one got it. I was plagued with blank faces and a wave of disappointment.

Although, once I explained my odd choice of words they got it. I was told to go back to the fandom from whence I came and only make references everyone at the table understood. *Sighs*

A friend of mine, Louise, did once make a sucessful Harry Potter reference. We had to cross the road between campuses and my other friend, Isabella, stepped out into the road in front of a car. Louise and i crossed afterwards and I began to berate Isabella for her actions.

“What were you thinking?” I asked. “You could have been killed!”

To which Louise replies: “Or worst, seen!”

All anger and stupidity was forgotten as we laughed at the very clever reference. It seems I have some work to do to match that level of well known fandom reference. Or get more of my friends as obsessed with Loki as I am. Either or, really.

Hound of the Baskervilles

So, in English literature, we’re studying the Sherlock Holmes novel Hound of the Baskervilles. Now, as a self confessed Sherlock (BBC version staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) this is a dream come true. I read it and see the little references to the books in the TV series. For example, when Sherlock says that John “may not be luminous but you are a conductor of light” as they’re walking out of the church yard after their spat the night previous, that’s an actual quote from the book! And I had no idea prior!

Realising this has made me want to read the entirety of the series – and hey, it’ll bridge the gap between series 3 and 4. 2016, Gaits, really? But whatever.

Another upside of being a fangirl for Sherlock is that it makes writing essays analysing the books far easier. I mean, Tumblr and FanFiction basically write them for me, as well as my own fangirl brain reading extensively into the gay subtext. I have kept that out of my essays, though. I mean, my latest one was analysing the friendship between Sherlock and John. How easy is that for someone in my position? Yes, I may have gone off on a tangent, but my English teacher encourages that.

On a side note, my teacher keeps referring to them as Holmes and Watson. That’s fair enough – they are their names, after all. She also sometimes calls Holmes ‘Sherlock’, and in conversation I can use the two interchangeably and people will know who I’m speaking about. However, if I drop in a ‘John’ when speaking about Dr Watson, no one seems to know. The amout of times I’ve had to say ‘John, John Watson’ kills me.

And don’t even get me started on how to pronounce ‘LeStrade’. That was painful.

When you see the fun I have with this book, it makes the other one we’ve studied seem rather pathetic in comparison. I have nothing against Heroes, not really, but Arthur Cormier has nothing on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not by a long shot.