OmGzz! I'm SoO WeIrDD anD RaNdoM LOLZzz!! (This is meant ironically. Please do not click away.)

"Wow, I'm so different and cool. I bet no one else thinks about such deep stuff the way I do," thought every teenager in the room.

The other day, I found myself listening to One Direction. I was listening to We Found Love covered by Lindsey Stirling (which is ridiculously amazing, by the way), and 'Story of My Life' cropped up in the Suggestions Bar. I know what you'll probably say. It's autotune, overproduced, sung by talentless, painfully pretty people, and only as popular as it is because of a cult following consisting of hyper twelve-year old girls. See, I agree with you on these points. But it's also insanely catchy. I will reluctantly admit that I hit the replay button over four times. And it's the very existence of this reluctance that led me to write this post today.

Take this situation into consideration: Bob is just your average guy, trying to fit in. Ironically enough, he'll never ever admit he's trying to fit in. He'll have his own 'unpopular' opinion. He'll tell the girls at school he's 'different' from the other guys. He'll make jokes about Justin Beiber being a girl and secretly listen to 'As Long As You Love Me' under the covers a night. He'll think of himself as an uber-intelligent person. He'll try to be as random and quirky as possible. He'll spit on mainstream media and criticize celeb culture and be as individualistic as possible.

You're probably sneering at this Bob character as I rattle off sentence after sentence. Now, I beg you, take a simple look at yourself. Is this behaviour that alien to you? If you're being honest, and provided you're not overly self-righteous, the answer will be no. Because try as we might to deny it, the truth hits us hard. We are all Bob.

Simple example: The first time I read Twilight, I didn't like it. Then, the 'Twihard' culture followed. It was cool to like it. It was cool to want a sparkly centuries-old vampire attending high school to fall hopelessly in love with you. This culture was loved by most, despised by a few. The few that despised it, made jokes about it. About how Bella was a ridiculous role model. About how vampires that sparkled were ridiculous. About how RobPat sold out after playing Cedric. This hate was so lasting that it almost completely crushed the Twihard fandom. A huge rift in the otherwise peaceful Town of Teenagers was created. No matter whom you met, if you asked them if they liked Twilight, the answer was likely to be 'Oh God, I hate it! <insert overtold joke about how PB&J is a better love story>. Most of these Twilight haters have something in common: they are trying to deviate from the norm, where they think loving Twilight is the norm, and that they're being the 'cool hipster kids' by having an out-of-this-world, likely-to-shock opinion.

They do this so much so, in fact, that they don't realise the norm shifted ages ago. Now, people who secretly like Twilight will never admit this in person. People who have never heard of it will openly insult it because everyone else is doing it.

I'm not saying such societal pressure is an entirely negative thing. For example, I decided to try out Classic Rock because no one at my school/in my friend circle particularly listened to it. As I struggled to hipsterify myself, I found love in the sweet chords of Led Zeppelin, the killer drums of Rush, the husky voice of Kurt Cobain, and the amazing guitarwork of Jimi Hendrix. A love of music was born.

Such is the power of society upon us. It demands to change us, change our opinions of things, change our worldview according to its own standards and ideals, whilst we blindly keep thinking we aren't following the beaten track. Society has the power to hypnotise us into thinking we're self-made, independent, out-of-the-box thinkers, when we're all really just Bobs.

This post has been overly cynical. I do not intend to put you down, or lessen your worth in any way. Innovation and creativity still exist. Exert your ideas, free your soul, but make not the mistake to think it is only in your heart that a diamond lies.

That being said, don't be afraid to put out that eccentric idea of yours. It's normal to be eccentric. So seize the day, my friends! Carpe that diem! Hah, this seemed to me to be a profound piece of writing, which, ineloquent as it was, I hoped to shock you all with. And in the end, it all boils down to one cliched phrase everyone's been repeating for centuries. If that doesn't summarize the point of this article, I don't know what does.

Some Muggle Appreciation

I have woken up late at night thinking about a huge, ragged, bearded Keeper of the Keys whisking me away to a school of magic. I have shivered with anticipation on my 11th birthday, eagerly waiting for a special something I knew was never going to arrive. I have curled up, sighing, with a fat book with 'JK Rowling' embossed on the cover when the most notable event of my 11th birthday was me upsetting a huge carton of mango juice. I have stayed up all night, rapidly making my way through a newly released 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. I am, what some might call, a Potterhead.

And Harry Potter is, if you haven't gleaned it from the title already, what this post is going to be about. All my non-Potterhead readers,.....go read it already!

So, today, I'd wish to tell y'all about something that has always bothered me, although it's something I myself am guilty of: Muggle hate. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of thing the Death Eaters have against Muggle-borns, or the kind of bullying a certain blond apple-lover has done in regards to the subject. I'm talking about the way other (most) Potterheads both in my real life and Internet presence have said they wish they lived in the Wizarding World, because the Muggle world is stupid.

For me personally, walking the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley holds as much appeal as living in other fantasy lands (see: Middle Earth, Camp Half-Blood etc). And that appeal stems solely from the fact that all of those aren't real, that it's something different to our Mundane everyday life, and would be a wild experience. 

But if actually given the choice to stay or go, I'd be torn between two lovers, and here's why.

I love the human race. I love our quirks, our perks, our achievements and the fact that it is the sole reason why someone living in the depths of the Pacific Ocean can easily read this post (provided they have WiFi. And Oxygen.) And when compared with the wizarding world, life here is so much easier and better.

Avada Kedavra? We got bazookas capable of wiping out an entire city within seconds. Brooms? Airplanes, jets, airbuses, helicopters, you name it. Wizards never reached the moon! (And everyone knows that wizard who claimed to have reached the white ball in the sky using a Cleansweep Seven was lying.)

Talking via Floo Powder? Skype! Admittedly, you can't feed toast to people via Skype, but still. 

As I grew up, I really realised that.

Reality's boss, brah.

My Thoughts on TFIOS...

I recently watched the highly popularised movie-ified version of the John Green Book, The Fault In Our Stars.

First: The Book

Quite simply, I liked the book. I haven't read many cancer-related works, so it provided a lot of interesting perspective to a matter I had never given much thought to. Throughout my rather-short-life-so-far, nothing has quite terrified me as much as the prospect of being diagnosed with cancer. And this book helped me confront that a little bit.
Also, being a sucker for romance and books, I liked the nerdy love radiating through the pages.
Full confession time: I have never read any other John Green work, so I can't speak about the monotone some readers have observed.
I found I resonated with Augustus in a very real way. While some have expressed called him a pretentious old wallywag* who used metaphors for no reason at all, I very much relate to his need to appear smart at all times. You will find there is use of flamboyantly, often redundantly ostentatious syntax of ginormous lengths and unnecessary use of the passive voice in my writing to make the reader think I rake in the IQ points.(Really, I'm the rough equivalent of a third grader). Seriously, though, being a 'nerd' has become a huge part of my identity and, as with all labels, I'm forever scared of that being questioned. Forever dreading the day someone will think I'm faux. John Green appeals excellently to this and more teenage insecurities. (My grammar declined there. I apologize.)

Cancer felt like such a huge part of Hazel's identity, as opposed to Augustus' that it made me wonder how she would have been as a healthy kid. Just your average geeky girl, perhaps. With a sharp wit and a certain attraction towards dudes with numbers for names.
The book was a great read. I read it two years ago, so my recall of its exact proceedings is a tad rusty. As happens with with all great books that get turned into movies, there was a slight feeling of violation of something sacred to you. (Just me? Ok then.) It then underwent an unbelievable increase in popularity, and everyone and their great-grandmother-with-chronic-rheumatism-and-a-brother-called-Rick knew about it.

Next: The Movie:
Uhh....Meh?
Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley work great together. Both display reasonable acting chops. Josh Boone is a great director who I feel will be a hit in the YA-book-adaptation category (see: Stuck in Love). Also, Nat Wolff. That's all I'll say about him. The major plot points were well covered, and yet I cannot exactly pinpoint my beef with the film.
But it has a lot to do with the fact that it was too chick-flick-ish. The geeky vibe was slightly crushed, and that disappointed me. The dramatic love confessions were so overplayed that I never welled up. Perhaps it's just one of those things that seems excellent in theory.


Seeing the actors play out the scenes made me realize how, ironically enough, the plot is dripping with notions of idealized love. Up till then, I had only looked at TFIOS as being a book with interesting characters, witty banter, and thought-provoking ideas. Seeing it as a pure love story, which, weirdly enough, it was always meant to be, slightly ruined it for me.
Completely subjective opinion of course, but I'd love to hear yours. Also, new blogpost coming at your faces soon!

*-necessarily censored

This Bloggy Thing and Me

I obviously haven't posted in a long time, and I have no valid excuse for this. Yes, I study in 11th grade, yes, I have a helluva lot of stuff to do, but I made a commitment to you guys (if there's even anyone reading this) and I'm sorry for the hiatus.
The main reason for me not posting, however, was nerves. If you'll bear a whiny teenager's rants for a second...
I'm highly critical of my content, perpetually over-analyzing everything I do, and thus never really meeting my own expectations of myself. Extreme competitiveness leads me to think that somewhere, someone is better than me, and it takes a while to make my peace with it. I have 3 posts in the works, all about topics that have interested me, but I can never seem to post them. Because I'm too anxious. Too worried.

One of the many ways I like to mindlessly while away my time is reading comedy articles online. (Check out Cracked.) I also occasionally watch stand-up and enjoy it immensely. So the purpose of this blog is to exercise my comedic/creative muscle, since I'm too socially anxious to do that in real life.
As an attempt to bolster my confidence, (and yours, if you care to listen) I told myself that everyone initially sucks at what they do.
 Eddie Izzard (one of my favourite comedians who also starred in Dress to Kill) has this amazing documentary called "Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story" where his journey from who-the-hell-is-this-guy-trying-to-make-me-laugh to world renowned comedic genius is beautifully played out. My first post won't be great, and probably neither will my fifth. Hell, most people will click away from my 100th, although it may have excellent comedic timing. What's more important, is that I keep posting. I keep marginally improving with each poop joke I brazenly belt out, and maybe I make someone's day.
The point I wish to arrive at is, if you have this weird thing you just might feel you're good at, but are scared to try it out, go for it. Start a blog, like I did. Grab the cat by the tail (way riskier than grabbing bulls by their horns). Pee in the rain. (I legit want to try this sometime). Exercise your genius. Because you'll never know your worth otherwise.And that's what I aim to find out here.
No matter how bad people may think your content is, there'll always be people who enjoy it. It's why Justin Beiber is famous (no offense to possible victims of ze Beiber Fever reading this). It's why cat videos are so highly adored. 
The more content you create, the more you grow as a creator, and in turn, as a person.
Because creating something, however bad it may be, is by default better than creating nothing.