First, I would like to mention that as with all the previous movies, this final installment is no stranger to discrepancies with the book and loads of omitted parts. Let me outline a few(?!) of the more extreme discrepancies.

1- Mr. Ollivander is NOT supposed to know anything about the Deathly Hallows except for the Elder Wand. While we’re on this subject, Harry was supposed to ask him if his broken wand could be mended, but it was sadly omitted out.

2- The treasure in the Lestrange’s vault merely multiplied, where in fact it was supposed to multiply AND burn upon contact.

3- The trio and Griphook were supposed to come across Travers the Death Eater, yet again they chose to neglect this part. While not entirely important, it would have been amusing to watch Travers wriggling into a crack in the wall when Harry cast an Imperius curse upon him, ordering him to hide.

4- The part with Aberforth was miserably short. As with Harry’s reunion with the DA. Upsetting, really.

5- The Dark Lord… lacks “oomph” =\ While Ralph Fiennes might be a good actor, I doubt anyone can portray the full terror which is Lord Voldemort.

And from this point on, I can’t even begin to explain the differences without practically talking about the whole book/movie.  However, I’ll try to sum it up as best as I can.

- Harry was supposed to go to Ravenclaw’s common room, and have a run in with the Carrows, but nooo, Snape had to assemble all the students and ask anyone with information with Potter’s whereabouts to step out, and hey, whaddya know, Harry stepped out from the crowd! Le gasp!

- The diadem was supposed to be perched atop the stone warlock wearing a wig, not in a box!

- When… when the heck did Goyle turn black?! And skinny?!

- This whole part about retrieving Ravenclaw’s Lost Diadem was strangely anticlimactic. Even with all those flames.

- Severus’ death. The Dark Lord was supposed to ask Nagini to kill in Parseltongue, but I heard it clear as day “Kill” – in English. And when the Dark Lord flicked his wand, he wasn’t supposed to inflict any damage on Severus. He was moving Nagini’s cage.

- Speaking of which, WHERE THE HECK IS NAGINI’S DAMNED CAGE?!

- AND SILVERY BLUE SUBSTANCE WAS COMING FROM SEV, HE ASKED HARRY TO TAKE THOSE, NOT HIS TEARS! GOOD LORD! IS IT SO HARD TO RENDER THE LIQUIDY GAS SUBSTANCE WHEN YOU CAN MAKE A BLOODY DRAGON LOOK SO REAL?! *facepalms*

- His final words were “Look… at… me…”, the man was having a hard time talking, yet in the movie he was still able to manage out “Your eyes look exactly like your mother’s” so easily. Well I’m not saying Alan Rickman did a poor job, because quite frankly, I think he’s the best actor in the movie, but still, there was something gut-wrenching when you read it in the book, and the effect was somehow lost in the movie. *sulks*

- OMG YOUNG SNAPE IS SOOOOO CUTEEEEEE >3< *Coughs* Sorry, I forgot that I was in the middle of contradictions, we’ll get to the better stuff later ;D

- Right. The Prince’s Tale. While not devastatingly disappointing, it was still rather upsetting. Severus and Lily’s relationship wasn’t really shown in too much detail, you could figure it out I suppose, but it was just brushing the surface of it. My favorite chapter of the whole series, concised to barely 5 minutes. *sulks even more*

- Now then, moving on to King’s Cross Station. HARRY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NAKED, NOT WEARING A T-SHIRT AND JEANS! *coughs* Yes well nudity probably isn’t sensible for the movie but at least have him wear robes, damn it! One thing I can’t quite tolerate in the movie is that they wear far too much muggle clothing. Witches and wizards are supposed to wear ROBES. Say it with me, r-o-b-e-s, robes!

- I can’t even tell you how people who have never read the book are expected to understand how Harry died, and then did not die. Dumbledore barely explained ANYTHING in the movie. Will three minutes of explanation kill you? Blimey!

- Neville… and Nagini. He killed her off at a totally different time. And loads of other stuff regarding Neville were different. I’m not even going to go into detail on this.

- And now the climax. Harry James Potter vs. Tom Marvolo Riddle. The battle was… completely altered. Where they were supposed to circle each other in the Great Hall, talking things out (in a manner of speaking…), the movie turned it into an action packed scene. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this; on one hand I’m scandalized at how they gave it a 180 degree makeover, but on the other, I think it’s rather good for people who are not fond of long talks. People who just watch movies for the action scenes, to be exact. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, because I doubt the effect will be as good as when you’re reading the book, so I’m on the fence here.

- Last but most certainly not least, Harry mended his wand with the Elder Wand, and decided to put the Elder Wand back where it came from, NOT SNAP IT IN HALF AND CHUCK IT AWAY!!

So there you have it. My dissatisfactions with the movie. Having said that, if I was being COMPLETELY unbiased and not compare it to the book AT ALL (painful for me to do so, but I must not be so judgmental! I have been trained to expect disappointment if I keep comparing it to the books, because honestly, NOTHING can beat it), I think that this is probably the best Harry Potter movie made. Although incorrect, the action scenes were substantial and, if I may say so, rather enjoyable. A fair number of things were left unexplained, like how important it was for the Dark Lord to resurrect with Harry’s blood and why it had to be him who kills Harry with his own hands, but all in all, it was rather understandable. It’s leaps and bounds better than the 1^st part of the movie, which was a complete and utter disaster. Oh, and somewhat (totally) irrelevant, but young Severus Snape and Albus Severus Potter are absolutely adorable! xD

Right then, I suppose I’ve ranted a little too much, and I doubt anyone would be remotely interested in reading this, so I’ll be ending it here. With mixed feelings, I bid farewell to the journey I have been on for ten years.

P/S : Apparently Voldemort’s cries of “NUOOOOO”s were exaggerated and repeated only in the trailer… I think I counted only 3 or 4 in the movie… hmm…

(Completely unbiased) Rating : 7.5/10 FINE, IF I DO NOT HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST WHAT THEY DID WITH SEV, 8/10, HAPPY?

(I say completely unbiased, or I would have given it a measly 3/10. The points go to the impeccable CGs and Sir Alan Rickman.)

I’ll be taking the exam under the Trinity Guildhall instead of ABRSM, and I’m hoping what my teacher said about Trinity having less scales to play is true, because damn I suck terribly at scales. And this is violin we’re talking about, not piano. Which is about 5X worse ._.

My preparations for the three pieces are pretty much okay, but there’s always room for improvement, and I should seriously start practicing more. My scales, on the other hand, are atrocious. Especially the dominant sevenths and arpeggios. Sight reading… shouldn’t be too big of a problem (as long as the examiner doesn’t assign me a crazy ass passage with crazy high notes); I’ve always been pretty good at sight reading especially on the piano (again, as long as it is not some crazy insane difficulty level). And lastly, aural. Trinity’s aural tests are significantly different than ABRSM’s, having only two sections according to the guidebook. Well, I’m happy I don’t have to sing from memory or sing an accompaniment, but I sure hope my vocab doesn’t fail me when I have to talk about and describe the piece. Hallelujah.

Anyway, if all goes well, this will probably be the last practical I’ll be taking (at least for quite some time). I don’t think I’ll be taking my diploma in violin recital, and I’ve passed my piano diplomas. So yeah, seriously hoping all goes well ^-^b

It first started with my piano class at 12.30pm, then after it ended at 1.30 we practiced for the upcoming performance for about half an hour or so. Later, my music teacher and a few other teachers headed out for lunch at a newly opened cafe. The food is rather appetizing, and there are a few other side dishes and desserts I would have liked to try but alas, we were rushing for time, so I made do with the Fish and Chips :)

When we were about to leave, it started to rain D: None of us had umbrellas so we used the old newspapers as a makeshift umbrella, but naturally we still got wet orz. And it made packing all the stuff for the performance all the more cumbersome. Anyway, we managed to reach the venue (which turned out to be the state library) in time with no trouble.

Gah I forgot to even mention what sort of performance it was supposed to be =w= Well, my teacher usually holds a “concert” once every year or so whereby her students perform in order for them to gain experiences and exposure. (as well as functioning as publicity for her music center :D) Well this time it was intended for the parents’ to watch their children perform, and served as a “Prize Giving Day” too.

Anyway once we reached there, I helped set up the stage and sort the presents etc. Pretty tiring having to carry all those stuff up and down the stairs haha. Had a pretty hard time moving the portable notice board, and before I knew it I heard the MC announcing the start of the first song, and I was supposed to be there on stage! So I apologized to the others who were moving the board with me and dashed into the hall and up the stage, thank goodness the others were just getting started so I made it in time ^^ I was to play the piano accompaniment for a string quartet (so including me it was a quintet I guess :P) – 3 violin parts and a cellist, playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

After that, it was time for the little kids to perform. Their dance and singing was really cute actually, and in fact I think they played the violin and piano (well, Clavinova in this case) better than some of the teenagers! Ah, how nice it is to be so young and carefree. The days where a performance means nothing but going up on stage and doing your thing, without the influence of nervousness or stage fright. How I envy them ._.

I played the piano accompaniment for another two songs, The Entertainer and Greensleeves. Everything went well, considering the fact that I was asked to play at the very last minute, and I’ve never practiced beforehand with the violinists for Greensleeves. It was an impromptu performance lol!

After everyone performed, it was time to hand out ‘trophies’ and presents to the students who did well in their Theory and Practical exams. Most of the recipients were young children,  to boost their confidence and encourage them haha :) I didn’t get any because I have passed my graded exams years ago and the prizes were for the years 2009 and 2010 T_T

The concert ended earlier than expected (which is a good thing), and I helped pack up the stuff. It was STILL raining -_- when I finally went home at 7pm. Of all days, why today =\ All in all I’d say it was a successful(ly tiring) day :D

Anyway nothing much has changed in the time I was absent, except that I have managed to turn into a hikikomori. Well, 80% anyway. I still do go for music lessons and for movies/shopping every once in a while, but 5/7 days I’m most probably sitting at home, glued in front of my computer or PS/TV. [As well as being an invisible rockstar, singing(screaming?) along to J-rock and whatnot. Meh.]

And I’ve been splurging like mad ever since I got my debit card last year. Seriously. I lost track of how much I’ve spent. Most of the cash goes to One Piece figures, but I’m gonna save the rants about them for another post ;D

Hmm let’s see… what else… oh yeah remember how I said I never want to be a teacher? Turns out I’m now a music teacher =w=b Well I’m not exactly a full time teacher, but I have a couple of students, and whenever a replacement teacher is needed I’ll fill in the spot. Pretty good pay actually (considering the amount of students I have and the time I work anyway). Pretty much gotten used to it now :P

Anyway yeah, nothing much to update =S Gonna continue with other topics later, and hopefully I’ll actually start being more active in updating again =w=

But somehow I’ve seen it coming. I mean, the majority of voters are hormonal tweens, a.k.a 12 year old girls who have too much time to spare voting their asses off for the next cover guy. Or maybe the voting system was rigged. I don’t know and frankly, I no longer care even though I voted for Adam yesterday, the first time I voted for a contestant since I first got hooked to the show in Season 4 (yet another season which produced a terrible Idol, I can’t see why Carrie is so barbarically popular).

I suppose that part of the reason Kris is the current Idol *note heavy sarcasm* is because Americans are so ridiculously homophobic that they can’t look past their prejudice to see talent. That sentence was beautifully phrased by Alyssa on the American Idol fan page on Facebook. I couldn’t agree more.

I came across this really appropriate banner on votefortheworst.com

Anyway I really don’t have much left to say regarding this issue. Even Simon was practically speechless when the winner was announced. Adam is, and will always be, a world icon, whereas the newly crowned ‘Idol’ will be a Kris Who? in a matter of months, if not weeks. Like Season 5 for instance. Taylor Who? The fact remains that Chris Daughtry went platinum after just 5 weeks of release.

So here I am, waiting eagerly for Adam’s debut album/single. I’m also waiting for Kris’ album, so I can leave it in the sun for hours then play it on the radio for comic relief. Oh wait, I forgot. He already sounds like his record’s been left in the sun for too long. I believe William Hung sells more records than him, at least William’s memorable and amusing =)

Rock on, Adam.

P/S : I am not an uncivilized Kris hater. I just don’t think it’s fair that a person who didn’t deserve it won.

Like, I don’t go around posting in my blog, “You people are such nincompoops with half the amount of gray matter a retarded person has for actually liking that limp piece of tune you call a song”, or “Oh, please, just stop with that annoyingly nasal voice of yours just begging to be complimented on your glory when the rest of us are still stuck in this rut “. Yeah now you guys know what I really think. Like it?

If you feel offended by this post, then you’ve probably antagonized me in some way or another, if not why the hell are you even feeling offended? Even if you are hurt, see if I care. I’m not even going to apologize for whatever offensive statements I might come up with in the future anymore. I’m sick and tired of being the idiot whose feelings are constantly being trodden on already. I’m an emo bitch? Why, thank you very much. I think you’re a baboon on caffeine overdose.

Before I continue any further, I would like to state now that yes, I had never been a fan of Kris, and yes, this post is most likely to contain harsh comments about him, so to his fans who are reading this right now and are cursing me to STFU and GO TO HELL, well, I could say the same thing to you. So there. We’re even now, hmm?

And I’m not going to comment about Adam’s performance, because words simply aren’t enough to describe it. We’ve all agreed with that now. Adam could be sleep talking and still sound pitch perfect. Okay fine I was exaggerating, but you get my point. Oh, besides, his sexuality doesn’t affect his performance, so all you homophobes out there can just stuff it.

Simple lil banner I made <3

Back to Kris. Now,answer me truthfully. Would you pay to LISTEN to him sing without LOOKING at him? I’ve heard cats meow more melodiously than him. Alright, alright, I’ll give him props for tweaking his songs here and there but being able to turn a song into your own DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE GOOD AT SINGING. As the judges constantly say, this is a singing competition! Yes, a SINGING COMPETITION. The purpose of a singing competition is to search for a great singer, not the next cover guy!

There isn’t a single performance of his for me to remember him by since the first time I saw him (which I really can’t be bothered to remember when) until now.In other words, he is simply forgettable. He lacks personality and confidence. Most importantly, I just don’t get the message of “Hey! I want to win this no matter what! I -am- your next American Idol!” from him. Sure, having a laid back and humble personality is a good thing, but not in a competition.

Vocal-wise, he is just average at best. Most of his performances were pitchy and all over the place. In fact, I must say he even sounds boring. Perhaps the only performance of his that left a deep impression on me was ‘Remember the Time’ by Michael Jackson. Good Lord. He truly is talented. So talented in mangling one of my favorite songs so perfectly. Don’t even get me started on rock week. Goodness, it looked as though it took him a great deal of effort just to sing it. Heck, his veins were popping from his neck! And the duet with Danny? Without Danny, that performance would be utterly hopeless. Honestly, I really thought that a finale of Adam VS Danny would’ve been so much more interesting.

All I can say is, Kris, how could you be so heartless to slaughter songs, and it’s too late to apologize.

The first I will plan to attend is DaiCon, held at Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, on the 11th and 12th of July. It looks really promising – Chihara Minori, a seiyuu (Japanese voice actor)/J-pop singer is slated to appear live as part of her first South East Asia tour =D  Then there is the staple Cosplay competition, and the thing I am rather looking forward to, a Karaoke competition >D  Yes I’m planning to enter ohohoho~ The contestants get to choose their own songs, as long as it’s an anime/game theme song, J-pop or J-rock. I’d obviously want to sing a J-rock song but, the thing is, it’s rather hard to find the minus-1s T__T The contestants are to prepare their own minus-1s ._.  Then there is this J-pop exhibition, featuring merchandise from Johnny’s Entertainment (the agency that manages those crazy popular boy bands like ARASHI, KAT-TUN, HEY! SAY! JUMP!, NEWS etc.) Oh yes kyaaaaa ARASHI merchandise XDDD *starts going into HYPAA mode XP* Of course, there are other events scheduled, but those are the things I’m really looking forward to =D  To those interested in finding out more, please visit their official site : DaiCon

Next, I plan on invading going to GACC (Games Anime Comic Circle) on the 15th and 16th of August. I’ve wanted to go to GACC for some time now, but could never make it (because of the horror called school) ._. So this year, since there is nothing of that sort to hold me back, I really want to get there. One setback, though, is that it’s held in Melaka, and I’m really unfamiliar with Melaka T_T I’ve only been there once for an event way back in 2005 with my girlfriends, and we stayed in KL at that time (yeah we took the bus from KL-Melaka-KL swt). But anyway, GACC seems really fun XD  Apart from the cosplay competition, there’s going to be a console game competition! I am so looking forward to taking part in the Tekken 5 and Taiko no Tatsujin comp hohohohoho! But the places are limited, so perhaps I won’t be able to take part >_< But it’s gonna be fun, watching people battle it out XD Then there’s the Chibi Matsuri. According to the official site, it’s a small lovely Japanese festival where there will be yukatas, candy apples,  scooping gold fishes and many more. Time to get a yukata of my own! <3  To find out more, please visit their official site : GACC

Lastly, there’s Comic Fiesta. It’s most probably going to be held in December, but the official details aren’t released yet. We’ll just have to wait until some time in August I suppose =D  But having been to CF for 3 times now, I’m sure there will be loads of exhibits and performances and a whole lotta fun XD

This year, I really want to try my hands at cosplaying. I’ve only been to CF as a (very simple) gothic lolita and dressed up in  a (relatively plain) visual kei style. The question, though, is who to cos as? ._. I remember the very first person I wanted to cos as, back in 2005 (with regards to the above mentioned Melaka event) was Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist. At last I went as (a not quite similar) Mana. The idea of cosplaying Lust still exists, but the sad thing is, I’ve chopped off all my locks -_- And I do not intend on splurging on a black wig (since I’m naturally black haired) T^T Besides, Lust has rather big boobies which I lack. Perhaps I should just try a Wa Loli style (traditional Japanese kimono top with Western influenced skirts/bottoms), which I must say, I’ve been very tempted with for a long time now XD

Top:Typical Lolita, Bottom:Wa Loli

Typical Wa Loli style

More 'Aristocratic-looking' version

Yes, pretty, aren’t they? *_* I haven’t done Loli style for quite some time, though. And I’ve chopped off my long hair for a more ‘Visual Kei’ approach…but I suppose I could work it out somehow ^-^  The biggest problem : Shoes. Opinions please? ._.

Anyway, Emily came over to my house yesterday (as she does almost every Wednesday and Friday nights), bringing along her NDS. Last week, she let me try out the “Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin” game and the song “Love So Sweet” by Arashi was included and I had fun playing it, getting a perfect score, until she told me there were three levels, and I was just playing the first level =_= So i said “Bring it on!”, attempting to play the third level. Huge mistake. I hated the song after the first 10 seconds (of course, this is said for illustrative purposes only. I still love that song *_*) The combos were crazy! (Okay I’m not good at playing Taiko, that was my very first time playing it hey ._.) Last night, I attempted to get a decent score on that song again, and only scored 78% ._. Then Emily asked me to try playing it with both hands a.k.a use 2 styluses. I was like “Eh? You use both hands to play?” and she told me we were supposed to use both hands =_= This time I only scored 81% (but still an improvement >P). Finally, both of us decided to join forces – she’d hit the ‘blue’ parts while I hit the ‘red’ parts. And still we couldn’t get 100% T____T

I found this video on YouTube just now, and I’m starting to feel really useless -_-

To Emily (if you’re reading this swt) : You see! People can play until so geng wor! Sked er! (Yes don’t be surprised we actually speak like this sometimes – it doesn’t mean we make grammatical idiotacies, we just love how hilarious English sounds like this XD You should listen to how we speak Mandarin with each other, but that’ll be another post, another time <3)

I woke up real early today (by early I mean 7 a.m), went out for a cup of water and saw the glorious Kinokuniya plastic bag containing my treasures on the kitchen counter. Instant alertness, bye bye grogginess XP I quickly downed my cup of water and carried the bag back to my room. *_______________* was my expression when I saw them yummy photos. And there even was a medium-sized poster in two magazines, both featuring Gakuto-sama *______* I’m gonna have to tear down/relocate some posters to accommodate those two >w< I had to contain myself from kyaaaa-ing out loud and awakening the whole neighborhood =__=;;;  Sadly, though, two magazines were somewhat bent T^T Why didn’t you check the conditions before buying, dad? T____T But he said only 2 copies of each magazine was left so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much =X (Holy I just realised I’ve repeated the number 2 a fair number of times now o_O *hurries off to buy 2222 for the lottery* XP) And I noticed that the price of the mags have gone up o_O I bought it for only RM49+ the last time (which was in last December) and now it’s RM58 per mag…. RM8 increment….いやあああ!!~~

My dad also bought a Death Note sling bag for me which, in all honesty, looked rather swt ^-^;;; The front part had a….group picture of the Death Note characters ^-^;;;;;;; Later he said there was another one which only featured the words ‘Death Note’ on the front but he didn’t get that. I was thinking to myself “YOU SHOULD JUST HAVE GOTTEN THAT ONE!!!!! T^T” but anyway it was nice of him to buy a bag for me so….yeah….^_^;;;;;;;

And he also brought back some books for me, mostly horror fiction XD They were second hands of his friend’s hohoho. I never knew uncle read horror fictions too >P THREE Stephen King books! Imagine that! Saved a ton of money buying story books – those are gonna keep me occupied for some time :D