iHate and iLove London.

It's half-term break for us poor saps studying the IBDP in Oxford. Ten whole days of nothing to do-- the lucky ones go home to their relatively nearby countries and the unlucky ones (iMean me) do what I did. Go to London.

London is possibly one of the most annoying places to go once you've gotten used to student life in Oxford. It's loud, crowded and depressing. iAin't putting down the world's city-- it's a great place for shopping and the food is a hell lot better (pardon my french) than Brown-Sauced-British-Stuff Oxford. It's just not the city iWould want to live in. Give me warm and friendly KL anyday.



Okay, enough about my adjustment issues. We all know how boring those can be. iThink that I'll fill you in on something more interesting today. Tintin. You heard me right. Let's hear you say it: A THOUSAND BLISTERING BARNACLES! If iEver grow to love London, blame the Tintin store in Covent Garden. The Adventures of Tintin have been with me since I could put words together so if you haven't guessed it already, this is supposed to be an iLove entry.

As per usual, iAm going to tell you to get up, get out and buy a copy of any Tintin adventure out there. Because iTend to tell you to read kickass books (or in this case, graphic novels) you've never read before. Odds are however, that you do know Tintin through his comics and cartoons. If so, well done! iHope that you will continue to spread the awesomeness of Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. Oh. On that note, if you know where I can get a copy of the first 3-in-1 volume of Tintin's Adventures, leave me a message please.

On to the more serious side of our favourite reporter and snow-white dog. Racism. It was brought up earlier this year that Tintin's adventures -- those in the Congo, specifically -- have shown signs of racism. I'm no expert but iBelieve that this was a legitimate claim and I'm not going to play the part of the diehard fangirl, trying to defend Herge's work. iWould like to state for the record however, that I have been reading Tintin since the tender age of seven or eight (or nine? Mum should know) and have not in anyway been influenced by these racist sentiments.

It's daft that parents don't want their kids reading Tintin anymore because they think it has racist values. If they raised their kids properly instead of plopping them infront of the idiot box or playstation 24/7, then maybe the children would have some chance at independent thought. So here's my message to parents of today and soon-to-be parents. Get off your lazy asses and do some parenting. School teachers aren't going to do it for you, the television isn't going to do it for you and neither is the internet. Don't go around protesting about how violent or racist comics/games/tv shows are making your kids horrible brats when you're the one buying them all that stuff instead of teaching them the basic human values that are supposed to help them withstand negative influences. You can't make 'em better people by taking all the bad out of the world. The world will always have bad stuff in it.


Alright then, iThink that's about it for today. Have a nice day people. Hope I didn't offend or depress you.


Write you later. Go read something.



-The illiterate Blogger-

His Infernal Majesty

"Don't know if I will but until I can find me..."


This is more of my sister's speciality but iLike to think that my taste in music isn't horribly bad. If you haven't heard of HIM... well, no biggie, I didn't know about them until my sis started singing their version of "Solitary Man" in the shower on Monday mornings.

Before iCame to England, I transferred a lot of their songs from her albums to my laptop, just for the hell of it. And for some reason, they're all I've been listening to over the last couple of days. Could this be my weird-poetic-metal side coming out to greet my iLove-Disney-music side? Or have I been listening to so many instrumental pieces that I greatly need something packed full of strange lyrics? Well, go bother. iNonetheless do recommend listening to HIM. All of their songs may not appeal to you but there are a select few that will, whether you like it or not, get under your skin.

In other (hopefully more interesting news), some of you may be glad to know that iFinally have gotten around to viewing Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible as a "Real Book". Y'see-- the novels iStudy for literature classes are generally good books (The River Between, Pygmalion, etc) but I've always had this habit of viewing them as "Literature Class Books" as if they were written for the purpose of being analyzed like hell. But lo and behold! The Poisonwood Bible is a "Real Book"! Praise the Lord and get out of the confetti!


Write you later. Go read something.


-The illiterate Blogger-

Of Cobwebs and Curses.

So I apparently forgot about my reputation as an illiterate blogger. Tsk.


*dusts cobwebs off of website*


As some of you may or may not know, I am now in Oxford, England and studying for my International Baccalaureate Diploma. Exciting, eh? I've been here a month and every day is still a new adventure. But I doubt that you're extremely interested in my personal/social life, so let's talk about literature now. What am I reading for English class? "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. It's proving to be more enjoyable than I first assumed it was going to be. We're also studying Sophocles' "Antigone."



I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has tips about how to approach these texts from a critical literary perspective. We have a great teacher though, so I'm hoping that my ideas will begin to take a more solid form as the term progresses. To any family members reading this: don't worry, I haven't failed anything yet. ;-)


By the ways, forgive any spacing or structural irregularities. Blogspot doesn't agree with my Macbook, curses! Will leave it at this. Have fun.


Write you later. Go read something.

-The illiterate Blogger-