(Comic) Book Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise Part 1

ISBN: 9781595828

Published: January 25th, 2012

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Read on January 30th, 2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The wait is over! Ever since the conclusion of Avatar: The Last Airbender, its millions of fans have been hungry for more--and it's finally here!
This series of digests rejoins Aang and friends for exciting new adventures, beginning with a faceoff against the Fire Nation that threatens to throw the world into another war, testing all of Aang's powers and ingenuity!
* The continuation of Airbender and the link to its upcoming sequel, Legend of Korra!
* Written by Gene Luen Yang, author of the National Book Award-nominated American Born Chinese

(Fun fact: When I went to add the book on Goodreads, there wasn't a page, so I ended up creating one myself.  That's the first time I'd done that.  I'm kind of proud of it even though it wasn't at all difficult.)

Review:

I'm going to start off with the spoiler-free stuff.  I loved this comic.  If you are an Avatar fan you have to read this.  It tells the story of what happened after the television series.  It starts off showing a little inbetween the final scene at Iroh's tea shop and the stuff before that.  In fact, it includes parts of the tea shop scene.  Then, it skips ahead a year later.  It's great, and I found myself reacting to it just like I would an episode of the TV series.  I was actually a bit emotional after finishing it.  It only took about an hour or less to read.  It's not long at all.

Now, on the the spoilers!  (Which will basically be my reaction to every single thing that happened...)

It starts off with the same narration by Katara as the TV series does, which I loved.  The only thing different was the end of her narration where she describes how Aang defeated Ozai and Zuko became Fire Lord.  It was just the beginning, and I was already getting chills.

The first scene is basically everyone talking to the Earth King in his palace.  Zuko and the Earth King decide on the Harmony Restoration Movement, which will remove the Fire Nation colonies from the Earth Kingdom.  I love how Sokka comes up with the name, and Toph asks what's with him and funny names.  I also love how Katara volunteers both herself and Sokka to help Aang.  It's the original group back together!  (Except I want Toph with them.  It's just not the same without her..  If you haven't read it, don't worry she's in the book, but she doesn't travel with them anymore, which I find sad.)

Then, we get to see Sokka freak out when he walks in on Aang and Katara kissing.  I found it hilarious, and it's the first time he tells Aang and Katara that they're giving him the "oogies," a term he uses throughout the comic.  Sokka doesn't seem upset about their relationship though, which I think is pretty accurate.  He just complains when they show any sort of affection for each other in his presence.

The promise Zuko makes Aang agree to is saddening.  I can see Zuko's reasoning though.  I just don't think choosing the celebration was the best time for it.  After that it immediately skips one year later.

Apparently people have attempted to assassinate Zuko multiple times, and he's become quite paranoid about it.  I have to say, I became a huge Zuko fan in the second half of season three, so seeing him in this comic makes me really sad.  He's become so paranoid and worried.  He's not his father (which he's extremely worried about), but he seems to becoming kind of close.  It worries me.  Hopefully, Aang can keep him in check.  I definitely don't want another Sozin/Roku situation.

One thing that shows Zuko is still a good person is that he tries very hard to protect the best interests of his people in this comic.  I don't know if he goes about it in quite the right way.  He should have contacted Aang and the Earth King right away.  Still, he has a good heart, and I'm extremely confident that it will stay that way.  I just hope he doesn't get horrible advice from Ozai that corrupts him.  I'm a bit worried he's going to listen to Ozai a bit too much, and Aang will have to "bring him back" or something.

We knew Toph started a metalbending school from the information we got from Korra, but I wasn't expecting her too start it so soon!  There are only three kids, so it's not like she's teaching a large group.  Still, two of them seem to be a bit older than she is.  Watching her boss them around was a bit amusing.  While I love the idea of her running the school and bossing the kids around all day, I'm still sad that it's implied she hasn't seen Aang, Katara, and Sokka for almost an entire year.  Why didn't they write (or have someone else write in Toph's case) letters to each other or something?  Sokka makes it sound like the heard about her school from someone else.  Their reunion is cute though.

I also want to know why Toph's metalbending school is there of all places.  Why didn't she choose Gaoling or Bai Sing Se?  Later, her police force is stationed in Republic City I think, and I'm pretty sure this city is going to become Republic City.  (I can't be the only person thinking that.)  I just don't understand how Toph got there in the first place.

I wasn't expecting the Freedom Fighters to show up!  I'm glad to know Smellerbee and Longshot are alive though, since we never learned that before.  (I also just noticed Toph and Aang hugging in the background of one of the frames on page 40.  That is absolutely adorable!)  It doesn't seem like the Duke and Pipsqueak rejoined the others though.  Also, Smellerbee is sitting on Longshot's shoulders.  That'll please the people who ship them together.

Aang and Katara constantly calling each other sweetie...  The part of me that absolutely loves them and fangirls them as a couple wants to go on about how cute it is.  I mean, I waited so long for them to be together, and now they're being all "cutesie."  I love it.  There is, however, a small part of me that agrees with Toph and Sokka's reaction to it.

I'm not going to lie.  I was a bit worried when Zuko grabbed Katara.  I didn't know what was going to happen.  I was slightly preparing myself to hate him again.  Thank God that ended well (for now).  I also love Zuko showing Aang and Katara the city and seeing how it's such a mix of both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom.

I'd noticed a large lack of Mai in the comic (She wasn't even in the firework scene for some reason...), so I was thrilled when she showed up.  I'd almost started worrying that her and Zuko weren't together anymore.  I love how she gets onto him for leaving without telling her, and how she reminds him that he needs to talk to her.  I also absolutely love the fact that Mai called the Kyoshi Warriors (including Ty Lee!) to come protect Zuko instead of his own guard.  This also gives us the only glimpse of Ty Lee and Suki (aside from Suki being in the tea shop and firework scene with no lines).  (I really want to know how things are going with Sokka and Suki since they probably have seen each other just as much as Toph has seen Sokka, Katara, and Aang.)

Then, it cuts off with Zuko going to Ozai for advice.  I need Part 2!  I'm honestly worried about what Ozai's going to tell Zuko.  I've never freaked out about a comic book before.  I think there are about four months until we get that one, and I'll be coming up with crazy theories until then.  (Guys!  I just realized I can actually theorize about Avatar again.  I mean, Korra isn't the same.  This is the same characters and everything.  This is like J.K. Rowling realizing a new Harry Potter short story or something.  I'm so excited!)  If you're an Avatar fan, you absolutely have to get this.

Work and Calculators

This is the first time I've used the Blogger app to write a post. I'm boy a huge fan of the fact that I have to type with the phone vertically instead of being able to turn it and have a bigger keyboard. I apologize in advance for any typos or auto-correct mistakes in this.

Other than the keyboard thing, I really like the app. My only other complaint is that you can't read other blogs that you follow on it. That would be really convenient.

I'm using this because I'm at work. I won't get home until late, so I decided to post from my phone. It's not busy here at the moment, so I gave some time. I'm actually writing a review when I get home of The Promise Avatar comic that I read last night. I'll tell you in advance that it will be a great review. I loved it!

Remember that essay I mentioned in a post yesterday? Well, it went pretty well. I think I wrote too much about one topic, and I rushed the ending because I was almost out of time. I just hope it gets an okay grade.

I just want to take a moment to express how frustrated I am with my graphing calculator. This is the first time I've used one. I always got by without one in past classes, but it was required this year. I still usually don't use it. I'd much rather use paper. It's so much simpler than that confusing calculator. I'm starting to learn how to use it though. I just miss my old scientific calculator a bit. I've had that thing since sixth grade.

I'm going to go find ways to occupy my time until I go home. (I'll end up reading or only phone of course. Those are the only things to do.) I have absolutely got to stop typing this. The tiny keyboard and auto-correct are driving me insane.

Book Review: Dear Mr. Potter: Letters of Love, Loss, and Magic edited by Lily Zalon

ISBN: 9780615479316

Published: June 2011
Publisher: self-published
Read from August 1st, 2011 to January 26th, 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads:

“Dear Mr. Potter: Letters of Love, Loss, and Magic” features hundreds of letters and pictures from Harry Potter fans. Individually, these letters and pictures tell stories of how fans have been impacted and inspired by Harry Potter. Together they serve as proof of what all Potter fans know so well: the Harry Potter series changes lives.

Along with fans from around the world, “Dear Mr. Potter” also features letters from Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), New York Times-bestselling author John Green, Leaky Cauldron webmistress and author of New York Times-bestseller “Harry, A History” Melissa Anelli, Andrew Slack of the Harry Potter Alliance, Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters, Andrew Sims and Eric Scull of MuggleNet, and Esther Earl’s mom, Lori.

Review:

This book is absolutely brilliant!  I can't praise it enough.  If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll love reading the letters in this book and seeing the effect Harry Potter has had on the lives of others.  First of all, I just want to mention the cover art.  I love how it has a letter on it, and the back shows the other side of the envelope.  This book doesn't even have a publisher.  Lily Zalon edited it and got it published herself, and guess what.  She's "just" a teenager.  The fact that she was able to put all of this together is brilliant.  Another amazing fact?  All of the proceeds from the book go to the Harry Potter Alliance.  I can't find one good reason why a Harry Potter fan shouldn't buy this book (except not having the money for it).

There were so many letters that made me cry.  It took me almost six months to read it because I read it slowly and tried to savor it.  You'll recognize the authors of some of the letters including Evanna Lynch who plays Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, writer John Green, and other people well-known in the Harry Potter fandom.  I can't even begin to point out my favorite letters because so many of them are amazing.

I want to share the dedication in the book with you.  If you've read Deathly Hallows dedication, you'll understand.  The dedication in Dear Mr. Potter reads, "To Jo Rowling, from those who stuck with Harry until the very end."  Isn't that the best dedication this book could have possibly had?  I opened it for the first time, saw that and immediately fell in love with it.

Dear Mr. Potter isn't available in stores, but you can order it here.

Essays and PowerPoints

We have to write an essay in English tomorrow on the "I Have A Dream" speech, and I'm a bit worried about it.  I have no idea what exactly I'm going to write. I'm hoping it's one of those things where I start writing, and it just happens.

In current events we're all doing PowerPoints on different presidential candidates.  It's supposed to be who you want to vote for, but I really have no idea who I'm voting for yet.  I just chose Mitt Romney because no one else was doing him.  Over half the class is doing Obama, and then me and maybe three or four other people are doing various Republican candidates.  It's going to be hard telling everyone why they should vote for Mitt Romney when I really don't want to vote for him myself, but I'm filling pretty good about the actual PowerPoint.

After my weekend of no homework, I definitely have enough to do tonight to make up for it.  I also have a headache like I usually get on Mondays, so tonight will most definitely be fun.  (It's really not that bad.  It's a lot, but it's all pretty easy stuff like notes.  I wouldn't be complaining at all if it weren't for the headache.)

Church Two Times in One Day

You have no idea how nice it is to have a weekend where I didn't have any homework to bring home.  I did have to write a response for English, but I got it done at school on Friday.  It's so relaxing having time where I'm not worried about getting school work done.

I haven't done anything today except go to church, and I'm actually going back to church in a few hours.  Our church is starting this video series thing.  Each week they're showing videos that are on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  I'm not sure what this week's is on, but I guess I'll find out.  Our priest has said that they're really good, so hopefully he's right.

Other than that I think my day is going to be pretty lazy.  As soon as I get done writing this I'm going to edit a video I filmed yesterday, so that should be up soon.

Avatar Shipping: Teoph

This is the fifth of my Avatar shipping posts.  You can read the introduction and find a list of all of the other posts here.  This post will be about Teoph or Teo/Toph.

My Opinion

I'm not a Teoph fan.  To me, it always seemed like a horrible idea to pair the two disabled characters together.  I know that's not why a lot of people ship it.  Some people just like their personalities together, but the idea of it still irks me.  It becomes even worse when you consider what exactly each of their disabilities are.  Toph's blind and can only "see" when her feet are touching the ground.  Teo can't walk and loves to use his glider.  Toph's happiest on the ground.  Teo's happiest in the sky.  You could use the opposites attract argument, but I just don't like it.

Why do people ship Teoph?

While I don't like it, I'm sure there are some that ship Toph and Teo together because they're disabled.  I've heard some people mention things about how both were able to overcome their disabilities, and that would help them relate to each other.  I can see that to a certain degree.  Other than that, I haven't heard many reasons about why people ship them.  It's not an insanely popular ship, so there probably aren't too many reasons why people ship it.  Although, I'm sure you could find a few people who ship it and think Toph and Teo just make a good couple.

Fan Works

Fanfiction

The Wonderful World of Teoph:  This was a community I was able to find on fanfiction.net that has 21 Teoph fanfictions in it.  In fact, it was the only Teoph community I could find.

Fan Videos

Here is a search I did for Teoph videos on Youtube.  I'm sure some of them are really well done.

Fan Art

Here are the search results for the most popular Teoph artwork of all time on deviantArt.

Book Review: I Heart Bloomberg by Melody Carlson

ISBN: 1589191048

Published: April 1st, 2008

Publisher: David C. Cook Distribution

Read from January 4th to 23rd, 2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Kendall’s managed to wrangle her grandmother’s house—free and clear—except for the rules. No male roommates. But that’s ok, with the right ad she’ll pull in some girls, their rent and if she’s lucky, she won’t have to go to work any time soon.

For their part, Anna, Lelani, and Megan all have their reasons for wanting to move in: Anna has got to get out from under her overprotective parents; Lelani can’t take another day in her aunt’s tiny crackerbox house overflowing with toddlers and Megan needs a place free of her current roommate from Hades. Though they come with assorted extra baggage filled with broken hearts and dreams, they will discover they also have a vast array of hidden strengths.
As they struggle to become the women they want to be, they’ll find new hope and maybe even Kendall will learn a thing or two about life, love and the true meaning of friendship.

Review:

Directors

How many of you have a favorite director?  I can't say I do.  In fact, I usually don't know the director of most of the movies I watch.  If I do know the director, I still don't usually recognize any particular style they have or anything.  I mean, I'm not a huge movie buff or anything, so I guess that's pretty normal.  I'm sure if I paid really close attention and watched a bunch of movies by one director, I would start to realize their style.  Maybe I'll start to pay more attention to who directed what and see if I can start to distinguish between styles...  Probably not.

(This post is completely random.  It's just a random thought.)

Problem with Political Parties

I finished reading the prologue of the Canterbury Tales today for English.  We each have something we have to take notes on as we read, and mine's the corruption of the church.  So far I'm enjoying reading it.  It's not my favorite thing in the world, but I'm not bored by it either.

We had our second test in psychology, and it was a whole lot easier than our first one.  The first one I was really unsure about, but this one I felt confident that I knew most of it when I was taking it.  It helps that the material was a lot more interesting.

In current events, we went to the computer lab to look up all of the presidential candidates (all of the Republicans and Obama).  We're supposed to choose one, and we're going to do a report on why you should vote for them.  I really have no idea who I'm going to do.  Obama's out because too many people want to do him, and the teacher wants people to do the Republican candidates too.  My problem is I'm really moderate.  I half agree with Republicans and half with Democrats.  There's not one candidate that I support even a majority of their views.  It makes things difficult.  I would go by the issues that are most important to me, but that's divided by party too.  I still have no idea who I'm going to vote for...  This is why I hate parties.  I want more variety in the people I can vote for.  I don't want people from a huge group that have to believe a certain set of principles because they want approval from their party.  Who's chosen as the Republican candidate is important, but overall, every single one of them is preaching the exact same thing.

I was supposed to work today, but my sister wound up not having play practice and worked for me instead because she wanted the money.  I want the money too, but I'm not complaining about the day off.  I have more homework than usual this week because we have less time to get our chapter 19 stuff done for AP U.S. history.  (We're behind.)  It's taking me forever to get just the part I wanted to get done today done.  It'd be taking even longer if I were at work.

Oscar Nominations

For those who don't know, today was the day the Academy announced the nominations for the Oscars.  I've never really cared much in the past, but this year was a little different.  1.  Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss in the Hunger Games movie) was announcing the nominations.  And 2. I (along with a lot of other Harry Potter fans) was really hoping the final Harry Potter movie would get some nominations.

I watched the video of Jennifer and the Academy president announcing the "main" nominations when I got home from school.  Before I watched the video, I already knew that Harry Potter was nominated in three categories, and none of these would be mentioned in the video.  I'm a bit dissapointed that Harry Potter didn't get a bigger nomination, but at least it got some.  It's nominated in visual effects, make up, and art direction.  I really hope it wins all three, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Although, some people related to Harry Potter did get nominated for other films.  Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) and Kenneth Branagh (Gildory Lockhart) were both nominated as well as Christopher Columbus who directed the first two movies.  There may have been some others as well that I didn't catch.  I'll definitely be cheering for all of them as well!

Other than that, I haven't really seen many of the movies nominated, so most of it means nothing to me.  There are quite a few that I want to see, but haven't gotten the chance to yet.  I'm sure hearing the Oscar hype for some of these movies will just make me want to see them more.

Back to Work

We're reading part of the Canterbury Tales in AP English.  I began some of the prologue today.  The Canterbury Tales are one of those works of literature that I've heard about a dozen times but never actually read.  I didn't even really know what it was.  So far, I've been slightly entertained, but I don't think it's something I'd want to read for fun.

We played that quiz game again in current events.  We may be switching teams next time we play because one team has lost every single time (and we're graded on it).  I hope not though.  My group does really well each time.  It's not that I want the other team to get bad grades, I just want to get a good grade.  It's hard when you have to beat others in order to get a good grade yourself, but you don't want the others to get a bad grade because they couldn't win.

I worked today or the first time since the summer.  The first day back always feels a little awkward.  It was pretty busy too.  For the first three hours or so there was a constant stream of people coming in, but after that the place was desserted.  I'll never understand that.  It happens all of the time.  Everyone comes at the same time for several hours, and then absolutely no one shows up for hours after that.  I managed to get a book finished while I was there though (plus homework and a good portion of another book).

Since I was at work, I'm getting to bed later than normal tonight.  I wrote another blog post before this and had a video to edit.  I wanted to get the video up tonight, but it's going to wait until tomorrow.  I also wanted to  watch an episode of Naruto tonight, but I don't know if I could make it through it (and I'd regret it in the morning).  I am going to read a little bit of fanfiction before bed though (just one chapter).

Avatar Shipping: Tokka

This is the third (or fourth if we count the intro) post in my Avatar: The Last Airbender shipping series.  You can also read the intro, Zutara, and Kataang.  This post will be about Tokka (Toph/Sokka).  (This might not be as good as my other shipping posts.  I just got home from work, and it's late.  I'm kind of having to rush this.)

My Opinion

In my Kataang post, I mentioned that the one exception to me shipping something that condradicted a canon couple was in Avatar.  Tokka happens to be that exception.  They're one of the only couples I ship that aren't canon, and they're definitely the one I'm most passionate about.

I didn't start shipping Tokka on my own.  I just accepted Sukka (Sokka/Suki) although I wasn't incredibly into it like Kataang.  Then, I was listening to a Tokka shipper talk about why they ship Tokka on an Avatar podcast, and I realized that it really was a cute ship.  (This was around the time the first half of season three was airing I think.)  It didn't take long before I was shipping Tokka.

I love how they interact.  As with Kataang, I love their relationship as friends first and foremost, so I wasn't incredibly bothered about them not ending up with each other.  I never really thought it would be canon anyway.  I hoped (a lot), but I didn't fool myself into believing it had an incredibly good chance with Sukka.  I love their interactions though.  I think they're personalities make for incredibly amusing moments.

Why do people ship Tokka?

I think a lot of people like Tokka because of how Toph and Sokka interact.  Their sarcasm and senses of humor just mesh together to make all of their interactions amusing (at least in some people's opinion).  Then, there's Toph's crush on Sokka.  In the end nothing comes of it, but it's still there which helps give some credibility to the ship.

Fan Works
(I'm not going to put many of these right now.  Hopefully, I'll come back and add more later.)

Fanfiction

I'd Lie:  This is an AU (alternate universe) fanfiction, which means it takes place in our world.  I know that's not going to be everyone's type of story, but I think this was the first Tokka fanfiction I read and really enjoyed.  The author also has quite a few other Tokka stories.

The Escapades of the Blind Bandit and Meathead:  I think I posted about this author on my Kataang post.  This is another Tokka story that was one of the first I read and enjoyed.

The View From His Back:  This author has several Tokka fanfics.  This is the most recent one (although several are currently being written).

Fan Videos

Here are search results for a Tokka search on Youtube.  I've watched and enjoyed several of them (of the ones that came up when I did the search).

Fan Art

Here are the search results for the most popular Tokka art of alltime in deviantArt.

A Hunger Games Saturday

Today has just been a boring, lazy Saturday.  I listened to an episode of HG Fireside Chat and wrote some Hunger games fanfiction.  That's basically it.  My grandma was over for a bit earlier this morning.  It was nice to see her.  Our Internet has also started going in and out the past hour or two (I think my dad's updating software or something.), so I hope I can get this up without any problems.

I don't think I mentioned this anywhere but Twitter, but I got my second college acceptance the other day!  Now I just need to hear from two more.  I can't wait to finally decide where I'm going and get everything settled.

Avatar Shipping: Kataang

This is the next post in my series on Avatar: The Last Airbender shipping.  I've also written an introductory post and one on Zutara.  This post will definitely contain some spoilers on the series.

My Opinion

I've shipped Kataang since the very first episode aired.  I watched the first two episodes during re-runs the day after they premiered when I was eleven years old.  To me, it was obvious that Aang had a crush on Katara, and I already knew that I wanted them to be a couple.  During the lead up to the finale I was freaking out about whether or not Katara and Aang would be a couple at the end.  I remember pacing through the house after Ember Island Players aired annoying my family because I wouldn't stop ranting about how mad Katara had made me in that episode.  Oh, and my family was not amused when I screamed during the last scene of the finale.  I'm just a bit obsessed.  They're one of my favorite fictional couples of all-time.

Why do people ship Kataang?

Everyone's going to have different reasons of course, but for me it just made sense.  I watched the first episode and knew they would be together.  The only time I actually doubted they would be together was after Ember Island Players.  (Man, did they choose a good place to put that conversation.)  After the first episode, Aang's crush on Katara was obvious to me, and by the Fortune Teller I could see Katara starting to reciprocate those feelings.  By season three (or even Cave of Two Lovers) it just felt like Katara and Aang's future relationship was being shoved in my face.

I typically ship canon, but I'm not necessarily that into them.  If I can tell a couple's going to end up together, I accept it and don't usually ship them with someone else (although the one exception to that rule happens to be an Avatar ship).  It's the canon ships that I really like that I tend to become fanantical about.  There's just something about Aang and Katara as a couple that I love.  I've realized over the years that almost all of my favorite couples fall under one of two categories (or sometimes both):  they either argue constantly or start off as best friends.  Aang and Katara obviously fall under the second category.  I love watching their friendship evolve into a romantic relationship.

There are so many moments in the series that help convince me they're perfect for each other.  Katara's constantly the one there for Aang when he's in the Avatar State.  Aang gave up the power of the Avatar State to save Katara (although I personally believe the guru was mistaken as Aang obviously gained the Avatar State later).  There are just so many moments throughout the series that show Aang and Katara being there for each other.  Some people like to claim that Katara is too much like a mother to Aang, and it's true that Katara has a very motherly personality, but I would describe their relationship as best friends over everything.  Katara just likes taking care of people.

(I did a "Why some people believe it would be canon" section for Zutara, but I don't think that's needed for this post.  Kataang obviously was canon, and I already described why I (and I assume other Kataang shippers) thought it would be.)

Fan Works

I've been reading Kataang fanfiction for years, and I have a bunch of old fan videos in my favorites.  A lot of these will probably be older, but I shifted through my favorites to find them.  It's hard to find Kataang (or any type of Avatar) fan videos these days (although that will probably change with Korra).  I haven't looked at much Kataang fan art over the years, but I went to DeviantArt to try and find some.

Fan Fiction

Amira Elizabeth:  She's a fanfiction author, but you should check out everything she's written.  She's one of my favorite Avatar fanfic writers and basically all of her stuff is Kataang.  She doesn't really post much anymore, but her stories are definitely worth checking out.

Destiny's Call:  This is actually a sequel to another fanfiction, but I happen to love this one.  The author also has other Avatar fanfiction, and she's one of the author's I constantly think of when I think of Avatar fanfiction.  She's written for quite a few fandoms though.

Lyralocke:  She was another one of my favorite Kataang writers.  Unfortunately she passed away almost two years ago.  She was in the process of writing Parlor Tricks which is an AU (alternate universe) that basically places the Avatar story in a city during the 20's.  Even though it's unfinished, it's one of my absolute favorite Kataang stories.  I highly recommend it.

Avatar: The Fire War Renaissance:  This is the only story on this list still being written, although I believe it's very close to being done.  It takes place after the series ends, and is basically about the aftermath of the war.  It's not all about Kataang, but there's definitely enough Kataang in the story to make a Kataang shipper happy.

Looking through my favorites, I've pretty much favorited every Avatar story from the two author's above and by the author's of the two stories I mentioned.  You should definitely check them out.  Plus, you can find tons of good Avatar fanfiction if you search for it.

Fan Videos

At The Beginning:  I have to include this video because I remember becoming obsessed with how this song applied to Kataang after I first watched it.

Love Story:  I can see a lot of people not liking the song choice, but I think it's a cute video.

Kataang All in MEP and Happy: These two are newer and uploaded by the same person.  They have more effects and things than the first two.

A lot of the videos that used to be in my favorites have been deleted, so I couldn't find a lot of the ones I had watched in the past.

Fan Art

Here are the search results for the all-time most popular Kataang artwork on DeviantArt

If you are a Kataang shipper and would like to say something about why you ship the ship or recommend a fanfiction, fan video, or fan art please comment below.  I'll probably add it to this post.

Can you believe The Promise is going to be out in five days?  I've managed to stay away from most of the spoilers although I have heard some things unfortunately.  I've also heard part two is already able to be preodered.  Hopefully, I'll be able to order it soon!

Southern Republican Debate and SOPA/PIPA

This will probably be a short post because I'm watching the Republican debate on CNN and a little distracted.

We had an interesting discussion about dreams and sleep disorders, including sleep walking and things, in psychology today.  We're all going to be sharing a vivid dream that we had sometime in the past, which should be fun.  I'm really liking that class so far.  I shared some stories from when I used to sleep walk today.

We finished this quiz show game we play in current events today, and our team came in second!

I finished my sports project from probability and statistics.  I'm so glad to be finished.  Sports statistics may be a good way to study statistics, but I don't really understand them.  It's hard to do a project where you have to look sports statistics up and don't know what any of the abbreviations and things mean.

I want to mention the SOPA and PIPA protests yesterday.  It definitely means something to me since my blog could potentially be shut down if one of them passed.  I don't think it will, but I still want to keep up on the news.  I contacted our representative and senators asking them not to vote for it, and I've seen things where they've said they either won't support it or that their carefully reviewing information in order to make a "good decision."  We'll see how it goes.  At least Obama has said he won't sign it if it passes Congress.  That's keeping me a little calmer.

I could probably write more, but I want to focus on the debate more.  I need to choose who I'm going to vote for in primaries.  (Just pointing out:  I'm not a Republican.  I'm an independent, but I plan to vote in the Republican primary.  Then, I'll decide between who wins and Obama.)

Political Debates Drive Me Insane

What is with this crazy weather?  When I went to school this morning I didn't even need a jacket!  Then, it started storming in the middle of English.  This wasn't a small storm either.  It was a large storm that you'd expect to see in spring.  I'll admit that it was a lot colder after the storm, but the temperature is supposed to go up again over the next several days.  This is one crazy winter.

The juniors took the ASVAB this morning which meant there were only six of us in AP U.S. history, and we did nothing.  I'm definitely not complaining about that.  Especially since we had a timed essay on Beowulf in AP English right after history.  That didn't actually go that badly.  We knew what it was about ahead of time and could write some notes.  I had notes and an idea of what I wanted to say, but I wasn't entirely sure how to say it.  It was one of those cases where I started writing and it just happened though.  It could still have been better, but for a timed essay it went rather well.

Our current events class was spent watching the latest Republican debate the entire time.  I really wish they would stop attacking each other.  It's just annoying, and it definitely doesn't make me want to vote for any of them.  It just makes me hate them.  Although I was really happy when Santorum called Romney out for not answering his question directly.  I wish that would happen more often.  I hate when they start rambling on about stuff that has nothing to do with the question they were asked (which is almost all of the time).  It just drives me insane.

We started a project in probabililty and statistics that involves sports statistics.  I am not a sports fan.  We had to pick one baseball pitcher, one football quarterback, and one basketball point guard.  Now, if I was watching a game of any one of those sports, I could follow it pretty well (especially basketball).  However, I don't really know any players, and I have no idea what all of the statistics mean.  It took me forever to find them, and then there were all these abbreviations and I had no idea what they meant.  It was just confusing.  When I finally did figure everything out and got around to making my frequency table, I didn't have enough classes.  (Don't worry if you don't know what that means.  It's not important.)  I took it up to the teacher, and he said I'd worked everything out right, it just ended up that way.  These are the reasons I'm not a math person... (And definitely not a statistics person.)

DVD Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

DVD release date: November 11th, 2011
Director: David Yates
Written by: Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Warner Bros.
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here. -- (C) Warner Bros

Review:

I've expressed my love for the movie multiple times before, so I'm not going to go into that now. (Here's my first reaction if you want to read it.)  Instead I want to focus on the awesome special features.

The only special features on the disc with the movie were deleted scenes.  And I of course have to go through every single one.  The first one took place in Shell Cottage.  It was basically Bill telling Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be careful around Griphook.  It's was almost exactly what was said in the book I think.  It was a nice scene, but I can see why it was cut I guess.

The next was Harry and Luna talking in front of Dobby's grave.  Luna tells Harry that she's going back to Hogwarts, something I definitely think should have been kept in the movie.  I've mentioned several times before that it's weird that Luna just randomly shows back up at Hogwarts in the movie, so I would have appreciated that.  It still doesn't explain how she got in when there were Death Eaters there who had to know she'd escaped from Malfoy Manor, but it would have been better than nothing.  There was also a bit of extra dialog between Ron and Harry before Hermione shows up as Bellatrix.  There was a great line from Ron about Luna that I loved.  It was something like, "Always good value.  I'll miss her."

The next deleted scene takes place at the Hog's Head while the trio is talking to Aberforth.  I'm pretty sure it's just a slightly different version of a scene that was in the movie, so it wasn't that exciting.  Still nice to see though.

The fourth was the Hogwarts students marching down the staircase to the Great Hall before the battle.  Harry kind of makes his way through the crowd to Ginny's side, and they hold hands.  It's extremely short but really cute.

The fifth was Neville, Seamus, and other students setting the bridge up with explosives.  I love the fact that you can see green screen everywhere, and when the camera goes up to Neville who's standing on the bridge you can see the lights.  I was kind of wondering how they had time to do all of that.  It seemed to be taking a while.  I also wondered why Neville was standing up on the bridge instead of being down there helping.  I guess he was looking out for anyone coming or something.

The sixth was Tonks running up and finding Remus.  As I'm a huge Remus/Tonks shipper this scene made me extremely happy, and I would have been so extremely happy to have seen it in the movie.  They even mentioned Teddy, so that wouldn't have been too out of place later during the scene with the Resurrection Stone.  Plus, it just made me happy to have another mention of Teddy.

The seventh was the Slytherins breaking out of the dungeons.  It was good to see that they got out and fought, even though it was kind of implied that they went to fight for Voldemort.  I'm sure there were some fighting against him as well.

The eighth and last scene was Ron and Hermione being chased by Nagini.  Their exchange is so cute!  Ron says he has something to tell Hermione, and she tells him not to say it because it'll ruin it.  I loved it!

The rest of the special features were on the other disc.  The first I watched was the conversation Jo and Dan had with each other.  It was almost an hour long, and I was scribbling down notes the entire time because I knew I was going to do this post.  I don't want to bore you with the massive amounts of notes I took though, so I'll try to cut it down.

I loved this.  It's just Jo and Dan talking to each other, and all of it was really interesting.  Jo mentions that she's always though Dan, Rupert, and Emma were to good-looking to play "geeky" Harry, Ron, and Hermione, which is something I'm pretty sure everyone thinks.  She also said it was a good thing she talked to Emma on the phone and realized she was a perfect Hermione before seeing her.

Jo also mentions that it was extremely hard for her to kill Remus, and Dan says the thought it was one of the saddest deaths.  I definitely agree with that.  I also love how Dan's laughing when Jo says she considered killing Ron off.  (I'm so glad she didn't!)

I also love how they talk about the fandom.  It just makes me happy.  Dan mentions that he had a brief filling at one of the premieres that he could have formed a dictatorship at that moment because the fans would have done whatever he said.  It was probably true.

The also make a comment about Rupert spending his money the way everyone else would have when they were seven.  From the sounds of it he's bought some pretty crazy stuff.  It'd be interesting to see what kinds of things he's got sitting around his house.

I love what Jo says about peope burning their books.  She basically says they should feel free, and Dan says they have to buy them anyway.  Jo also says something about parents keeping their children from having an imagination that I just thought was great.

I also loved what Jo said about the epilogue.  She wanted it to be a snapshot of their life, and it showed that Harry got to live a life full of love and family.

There was so many other amazing moments.  If you have a chance to watch it, I'd definitely recommend it.

They next special feature I watched was on the goblins.  It was really neat.  It showed how they cast them and how the makeup was done.  I never knew Warwick Davis represented actors under five feet, and all of the actors cast were represented by him.  It was also cool to find out his wife and kids played goblins as well.  This was much shorter than the Jo and Dan conversation (10 minutes), and it was interesting.

The last special feature was on the women of Harry Potter.  It was a bit longer at 22 minutes, and it involves Jo and some of the female actors talking about the female characters in Harry Potter.  It was extremely interesting.  The discussed Lily, Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Umbridge, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna mainly.  There was some interesting insight into some of the characters.  It wasn't necessarily new information, but it was a neat look at them.

I really enjoyed the special features (and the movie).  I love this DVD so much!

Another Cold

It's only been a three day weekend, but for some reason it feels like it's been a bit longer since I've been to school.  When I woke up this morning, I felt better than yesterday, but I'm still a bit sick.  I'm hoping I continue to get better.  I already had one bad cold this winter, and I don't want another one.

I haven't really done much today other than the usual stuff I do when at home all day.  I did homework, read some, and just other random stuff.  The day actually went by pretty fast.  I'm hoping the whole week will go by fast, especially if I'm sick all this week.

Church Dinner, Dan Radcliffe on SNL, Etc.

It has been a long day.  I had trouble sleeping last night, and then I woke up today feeling a little sick.  I don't know if I really am sick or it's just allergies.  Whatever it is, my head feels congested, I can barely breath through my nose, and my throat feels kind of scratchy.  It's not too bad though, and I hope it doesn't get worse.

I'm really happy tomorrow's a holiday, and there's no school.  After getting no sleep last night, I really need another night to sleep in before going to school.

We had a dinner after church this morning/afternoon.  It was kind of a welcome to our priest (who came a few months back) and new parishioners.  I was probably there for about an hour, but I came home a bit earlier than most of the others because Ji was coming over to drop off some Friends DVDs and The Hunger Games that she had borrowed.  (She didn't actually ever read The Hunger Games, which dissappoints me a bit.)  We watched Daniel Radcliffe on Saturday Night Live (He was amazing, and I love the Harry Potter sketch!) and some Youtube videos before she left.

Other than that I didn't do much today.  I, of course, did some homework, but that's about it.  I actually got less homework done than I had been planning on because I didn't know that Ji was going to come over, and I didn't know about the dinner at church until this morning.  (Well, I knew it was happening, but not that it was today.)  Since I didn't get much done today, I'm also going to have to do more tomorrow than I planned on.  It's not much though, so hopefuly it won't take long.  I want to be able to enjoy the day off from school.

Book Review: The Odd Job Squad by Karl Fields

ISBN: 1463537891
Published: June 4th, 2011
Publisher: Self-published
Read from October 16th, 2011 to January 8th, 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The best way to get even is to get Odd... Thirteen-year-old Ander Cartwright is an expert on two subjects: fortune cookies and payback. Especially payback. When he’s not struggling with algebra, Ander leads an anonymous revenge club that operates within the walls of Marina Middle School. Got a beef with a classmate? Email Ander’s crew and, if your case if legit, they’ll get even on your behalf. It’s not easy to right wrongs and fly under the radar at the same time. That’s why Ander developed three simple rules designed to help him and his friends stay incognito. But when Ander spots the opportunity to settle a score of his own, he ignores the rules, setting off a chain of events that threatens to blow his cover, and it’ll take all the butt-kicking, detention-dodging skill the guys can muster to keep a lid on their secret.

Review:

Board Games I Love

I don't play board games incredibly often.  It's not because I don't enjoy playing them.  I mean, I asked for two new board games for Christmas.  I just don't usually have anyone willing to play them with me, or I just never even think to get them out.  I haven't even played Scattergories (which I got for Christmas) yet.

Quelf is definitely one of my favorite board games.  I love how crazy it is.  There's no way you can play it without laughing.

Apples to Apples is another one of my favorites.  I got Disney Apples to Apples for Christmas, and I love it.  Adding Disney to anything only makes it better.

I have no idea how much of a board game Scene It is, but I love it as well.  I have two different Harry Potter Scene It versions that I haven't played in forever.  It's hard to get people to play it with you when they're not as big of a fan as you.  My sister also has Friends Scene It, and I have Twilight Scene It.  I like these more than the normal Scene It since I know the movies/TV shows better.  I don't really know many of the movies on the normal Scene It.

Clue is another board game I love.  In addition to the original Clue, I also have Harry Potter Clue.  The Harry Potter edition is a lot different than the original, but I still really like it.  It can be a bit confusing when you first start playing it though.

I remember that my grandma used to have a Game of Life computer game that we used to play all the time at her house.  I think I played that before the actual board game.  I love it as well, and I own the Twist and Turns version, which I don't like as much.  The games are over in about ten minutes with that version.

My grandma, sister, and I used to play Monopoly all the time, so I have to add it.  I particularly like the newer version.  Plus, there are lots of different versions you can get for different fandoms and stuff.  There are several I would love to play but haven't gotten to.  I think I played the Disney version once, but I'm not sure.

What are some of your favorite board games?

Beauty and the Beast in 3D

I love two-hour delays!  You won't have to make it up, but you get to sleep in for two extra hours.  There's even still some snow on the ground outside, but it's not much.  I think it's supposed to snow again tomorrow, but I doubt we'll get much.

In current events today we finished playing our quiz show game thing for this week, and our team won again!  It actually seemed easier than last weeks.  The last question was who won the Iowa caucus, which we'd been talking about all week.

After school Haley, Jordan, Rachel and I went to go see Beauty and the Beast in 3D!  We went and ate at Taco Bell first, and then stopped by Walmart.  The movie was amazing!  I loved the Tangled Ever After short that was shown before it.  It was so cute!  (I still haven't seen Tangled all of the way through...)  Beauty and the Beast was amazing.  It's my absolute favorite Disney movie (as most reading this probably know), and there was no way I was going to pass up seeing it in theaters.

I'm not a 3D fan.  3D movies always give me headaches.  But I've been pleasantly surprised with the Disney re-releases in 3D.  Beauty and the Beast was just like The Lion King: the 3D was there, but it wasn't incredibly noticeable.  I don't know how to describe it very well.  It's like there are multiple layers to the movie, but nothing's flying out at you.  It was a completely different 3D than the previews and Tangled short that came before it (which did have some things flying out and such).  With both The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast I didn't get headaches like normal, and I loved getting to see both on a movie theater screen.  If you're a Beauty and the Beast fan, I definitely recommend going to check it out even if you don't usually like 3D.

Anticipating Korra

I just want to make a quick post ranting about how exited I am for The Legend of Korra to air later this year.  I just wish we had a release date!  Nickelodeon tweeted the other day and confirmed that it will be airing this year, so at least that's something.  They've actually been tweeting about Korra a fair bit the past several days.  I think it's because so many Avatar fans have started bothering them about it.  It is great to hear that it's being worked on though.  I just want a sooner rather than later release date.  If they're making it  as perfect as possible I guess I can't complain though.

I'm sure it's going to feel like forever before the show actually airs.  Come to think of it: if it airs in the fall (and I have a feeling it will), I'll be off at college.  I'm not even sure how I'll watch it...  I have no idea if I'll have a TV or cable in my dorm.  I will find a way though!  I'm seeing it when it airs.  And on a TV.  There's no way I'm watching a crappy version online.  That's not the same.  I guess it'll be interesting to see how I end up watching it...

First Delay of the School Year

It snowed for a good portion of the day today, and we already have a two-hour delay for tomorrow.  I'm so excited to sleep in.  It seemed like I was doing a ton after school today.  I had a lot of homework and other things that needed to get done.  I haven't had time for anything else really.  This is going to be extremely short.  I wanted to post something longer, but I still have a couple of things I want to get done.  There may be a two-hour delay tomorrow, but I don't want to stay up later than normal.  I want two extra hours of sleep!

Snow and Presidential Candidate Speeches

This has been one of those weeks that just seems to drag on forever.  It's felt like Thursday all day today, and I've constantly had to remind myself that it's only Wednesday.  In other news, we apparently have a winter storm warning for tomorrow, and it's expected to snow.  It's felt like mid- or late fall for a while now, so it'll be interesting to see what happens with that.

In current events today our teacher showed us a speech Ron Paul gave the other day during the New Hampshire primary.  That guy has some crazy ideas.  I'm not saying whether I agree with them or not.  (I don't know enough about them to really say one way or another.)  But they're definitely things that make you think, and it's all stuff that I've never heard any presedential candidate say in the past.  It makes things interesting, I guess.  If you haven't heard one of his speeches or don't know what his campaign is, you should really check it out.  It's a lot different from the other candidates' that's for sure.

The only way I'm going to make it through this week is to keep reminding myself that it's a three day weekend after this.  (Maybe four day if we get enough snow and they don't make Monday a snow make-up day, but I'm not counting on that.)  I still don't think I've fully adjusted to school again after break.  I honestly spent most of today in a half-asleep daze, and I had to force myself to pay attention in class.

Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting into Top Colleges by Marna Atkin

ISBN: 1592578977

Published: June 2nd, 2009

Publisher: Alpha

Read from November 14th, 2011 to January 7th, 2012

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Cruise your way to the Ivy League!

It's no secret that it's harder to get into college these days. Ivy League and other selective schools have record numbers of applicants, making the competition even steeper. This must-have guide carefully explores the to-do's to gain admission to a top tier school. Students and parents will learn about choosing the right school, what college admissions officers really consider when making their decisions, early decision versus early action, and what being on the waitlist means.
*Provides sample essays, recommendation forms, resources and websites
*Includes advice from guidance counselors and admission officers of top Colleges
*Between now and 2015, there will be more than 3 million high school graduates each year

Review:

I think this is a great book for anyone who's planning to attend college.  The books is geared towards students wanting to go to the top schools, such as Harvard, MIT, etc., but it has great information for anyone applying to any college.  I'm not applying to any of the schools mentioned in the book, but I still found lots of great information in here.

The book also points out that you need to start thinking about college as early as middle school, especially if you want to go to a top school.  Believe me, I wasn't thinking about college much in eighth grade, but I kind of wish I had been seriously thinking about it.  I don't think it's ever to early to start reading books like this and start putting thought into what you're going to do after high school.

This is a great book for anyone planning to attend college in the future, whether you want to go to a top school or not.

Primaries and Broken Pencils

It's only been four days since I last blogged, but it feels like forever!

I've had all of my college application stuff done since Christmas break, but a teacher that I asked to write me a recommendation didn't have it done yet and it was worrying me a bit.  She got it finished today though, so I finally have all of the application process done!  Now it's just on to everything else...

For current events we have to record the results of the New Hampshire primary, so I'll be keeping my eye on that all night.  We also had to predict who we thought would win (and second place, third place, and so on) today, and we get extra credit points if we were right.  So far my prediction seems to be fairly accurate.  We'll see if it stays that way.

My mechanical pencil broke in the middle of math class today.  Believe me, it made math class difficult.  No one seems to have extra pencils.  For a little while I was trying to write with a piece of lead in my hand.  (It didn't work too well.)  Then, I asked Ji for a pen, since we weren't really doing any math.  We mainly just filled out surveys.  (Everyone in class is doing a survey of everyone, so there was a lot of passing around various surveys.)

I have to finish reading Beowulf for English, and I plan on posting another blog post tonight (a book review), so I'm going to finish this particular post.  Now I'm off to go read about Beowulf fighting a dragon...

One Week Into the Semester

It's only the first weekend of the semester, and I'm already relieved that it's Friday.  My sleep schedule is still really screwed up from break, so I'm extremely thankful to have a day to sleep in.  Still, school's going really well so far, and I think it'll be a good last semester.  (I still can't believe it's my last semester in high school...)

My books seem to fall off my desk in AP English a lot...  I attribute this to the amount of books I have to carry to AP U.S. history and AP English.  If you watched the video I uploaded the other day, I talked about the bruises on my arm from carrying the books.  I have to carry a binder, and the books I stack on top of it always seem to slide off my desk.  Anyway, I'm telling you this because my books fell again today (while I wasn't at my desk just like all the other times), and someone picked them up for me.  They missed my planner, and I never noticed it was gone until two classes later.  I ended up rushing back to the room before psychology to get it, and it was laying under one of the desks.  I'm just glad someone didn't pick it up and mess with it.  (Junior year a freshmen got a hold of my calculator that I left in accounting and messed around with it before the teacher found it.)

We had a food day in yearbook today!  That's always a plus.  I was particularly happy because lunch was especially nasty today, so I wasn't as hungry when there wasn't much to eat.

In psychology we started a documentary on Freud.  I'll admit that I've never really known much about what Freud taught.  I'd heard bits and pieces of course, but that was it.  It's really interesting though.  I don't think I agree with a lot of it, but he has some very interesting thoughts.  I think most of it is a valid theory, and I can see how he could come up with this stuff, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

We finished a current events quiz game in current events today, and my team came in first!  We're apparently playing this game every week, and we'll have the same teams.  He also said we're being graded based on how well we do on the game, so hopefully our team can keep that up!  I don't know how I feel about that type of grading though.  There are four teams, and we apparently get an A, B, C, or D based on what place we get.  I know he has to get grades somehow since it's all current events stuff, but I don't know how fair that really is.  Most of it involved every team guessing and using any clues we could get anyway.  (For example, one question asked what communist country this guy came from.  We could tell his name was Spanish, so we just guessed Cuba and got it right.  It had nothing to do with actually knowing the answer.)

I don't think I'm going to blog all weekend.  It'll be nice to go a couple of days without blogging.  I probably won't really be filming any videos.  I filmed one earlier that I'll put up tonight, and I may film one Sunday.  Overall though I think I'm taking a break this weekend (other than for homework).

A Long Semester

It's only the second day of the semester, and I can already tell it's going to be a long one.  It's not so much that I have senioritis (although it's setting in as well), but I'm ready for the summer.  My classes this semester seem great overall.  I have a decent amount of homework, but they're interesting, and I have friends in all but one class.  I keep telling myself that I need to cherish the short time I have left in high school, and overall, I think that I am.  Still, there are so many moments when I just want it to be summer (or college, which I may regret) already.

This is going to be an extremely short post, since I have things I need to finish up and homework that I need to get done.  It shouldn't be as long of a day as yesterday, but I think it's going to come close.

Avatar Shipping: Zutara

Remember how I said I would be starting a "series" on Avatar shipping?  Well here it is!  As I said before, I'm starting with Zutara.  I'm going to do this by dividing the post into different sections: my opinion on Zutara, why people ship it, why some believed it would be canon, and fan works.

My Opinion

I do not ship Zutara.  It never appealed to me.  Actually, it never even occured to me until I found Zutara shippers online.  From the very first episode I thought Katara and Aang were meant for each other (but that's for another post/video), and Katara and Zuko even being possible never crossed my mind.  After discovering Zutara, I still didn't see it in the show.  I guess I can kind of see what others like about the pairing, but I don't like it.  I've never really been someone who likes the bad guy turns good and gets the girl storyline.  It doesn't interest me.

Why do people ship Zutara?

Obviously, I can't directly answer this since I don't fully understand it myself, but I did "research" for this post and have heard tons of reasons over the years.  If you're a Zutara shipper and disagree with anything I say here, just let me know, and I'll change it.  I'll also add anyone's opinion in here if they want.  Oh, and I can't forget: opposites attract.

I think Zutara is mainly appealing to people because Zuko starts as a villian, but it's clear he's not really a bad guy.  As every Avatar fan now knows, Zuko does end up switching sides before the end of the series.  It has the whole bad boy thing, and I think that appeals to a lot of people.  Some just find that kind of pairing to be interesting.

Why did some believe Zutara would be canon?

Before I even start, I want everyone to know that I realize not every Zutara shipper thought Zutara would be canon, but this section is focused on why some believed it would be.  I've seen quite a lot of "evidence" for Zutara over the years, and this section definitely won't include all of it.  I'm trying to include the evidence that I could actually see as being evidence.

I think a lot of canon Zutara shippers thought the opposites attract thing was valid evidence for the ship.

Do all of the Avatar fans reading this remember when the trailer for the second half of season three aired at Comic Con?  (I still love that trailer.)  Remember when Zuko and Katara hugged?  I definitely do.  I can still remember the screams from the Comic Con video.  I think that definitely gave a lot of canon Zutara shippers hope.  (I still think that was a slightly mean thing to do actually...)

I couldn't come up with much evidence that made sense, so that's all I'm going to go into here.  (I'm not saying there isn't anymore, but as a Kataanger, I'm not entirely aware of canon Zutara arguments.)  I will, however, leave you with this Zutara manifesto.  I didn't read all of it, but it seems very well written and in-depth from what I skimmed.  They also have the view points of multiple Zutarians.

Fan Works

I tried to find good Zutara fanfiction, fanart, and fan videos.  I haven't read or watched all of these, but I only put them here if they seemed to be of good quality.  If you want to recommend your favorite (or some you've written or made yourself) fan works just let me know, and I'll add it here.

Fanfiction

I'm going to list this Zutara community on fanfiction.net.  According to their description the community was made in 2005.  That would mean they've been collecting Zutara fanfiction since Zutara fanfiction was being written.  I'm sure you'll be able to find some good Zutara fanfiction on there.

Fanart

This link should lead you to a search for the most popular Zutara fanart of all time on deviantArt.  They all look extremely well drawn.  There are so many beautiful ones.

Fan Videos

This link will take you to a Zutara search on Youtube.  There are tons of Zutara videos on Youtube, and while I've never watched many Zutara videos, most of the Avatar videos I've watched in the past have been really well done.

I'd love to add more fan works here, but it would be helpful to get actual recommendations from Zutarians.  If you'd have anything you'd like me to add to this post, just let me know in a comment below

Working Concessions Makes it a Long Night

Today has been a long day, and this is going to be a short post since it's late and I have a lot to do.  I filmed a video earlier today that talked about my first day back at school, so I won't repeat all of that here.  (Editing and uploading that video is one of the things I still need to do.  I'm getting no sleep tonight!)

In that video I mentioned that I had to work concessions at the varsity basketball game tonight.  That's why I'm so behind on everything.  I was there for about two hours, so now I have to get everything I would have done in those two hours done.  Plus, I have to write down the results of the Iowa Caucus as homework for current events, so I have to stay up to get those results.

Working the concessions was fun, but I was so tired today and it only got worse while working.  I can't wait for my sleeping schedule to adjust back to normal.  (Tonight definitely isn't going to help.)  This was my second time working concessions for Beta Club, and this time definitely went better than the last since I actually had people to talk to this time.  I worked with Ji and some other people from school.  Ji also took some pictures of the game and people working that we can use for the basketball and Beta Club pages of the yearbook.  I think those are the first Beta Club pictures we've gotten except for the ones I took at the induction ceremony.

I need to go edit that video, so I'm not up all night waiting for it to upload and everything.  I'm tempted to just put it off until tomorrow, but I know I'll regret that later.  Hopefully, I'll get to sleep at a somewhat decent hour tonight.  (I laid in bed for three hours last night before falling asleep sometime after one in the morning!)

Book Review: Dawn Undercover by Anna Dale

ISBN: 1599900025
Published: October 16th, 2006 (U.S)
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Read from December 15th to 29th, 2011
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Dawn Buckle spends most of her days trying to get people to notice her, but whether at home or at school, it's as if she's invisible. And that's exactly what makes her the ideal recruit for S.H.H. (Strictly Hush Hush)--a secret intelligence agency. How the world's most forgettable girl transform herself into a world-class spy (and brings in a surprising double agent) makes for a rollicking read.

Review:

A Lazy Last Day of Break

Today's the last day of my winter break.  On one hand, break seems to have flown by, and on the other, it feels like forever since school ended.  I'm a little excited to go back and see people again.  I'm even excited for some of the classes I'm starting this semester.  On the other hand, I still have an essay I have to finish writing for AP U.S. history, and I'm not too excited about homework.

I'm spending my last day of break being lazy.  My brother and sister went to the movies with my grandma, and I decided to stay home and do nothing.  I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night, which led to me sleeping in way too late this morning.  I just hope I can fall asleep at a somewhat decent time tonight, so I can wake up tomorrow feeling at least kind of awake.

I did manage to film a book review earlier that will be edited, uploaded, and posted here later today.  I want to watch an episode of Naruto later today, so I can review the story arc soon.  And, of course, I have to finish that essay for school.  So, I'm accomplishing some things today, but overall, it'll be lazy.

Tomorrow is the first day of my last semester of high school!  I can't believe I have less than five months of school left.  That's just insane.

Oh, and it snowed today and actually stuck to the ground!  That's the first time this year!  It's very light and melted quickly, but I still got to see it.  It might still be snowing actually.  I'd have to look outside and see.

Books Everywhere

You know how in shows and stuff when they show a kid stuffing everything in their closet when they're told to clean their room?  I can completely relate to that.  It's not really that I stuff everything in there when told to clean my room, it's just that I tend to throw things in there without thinking about it.

My room isn't the cleanest place.  My desk, dresser, and night stand are all stack with things (mostly books), and there's not really any clear space on them.  I also have books, board games, and varous other things on my floor.  My floor isn't completely covered.  There's still plenty of room to walk and all of the stuff is pushed up against a wall, in a corner, etc.  The problem is my lack of book shelves.  I have no where to put my books, so they end up everywhere.  My mom always tells me to move them, but there's no place for them to go.

She used to tell me to put them in my closet, since I have shelves in there, but that doesn't really work anymore.  All the shelves in my closet are full (not just with books, other things too), and I can't really step into it because of boxes on the floor.  My mom gets aggravated, but I don't know what else she expects me to do.  There's no room for all of my books.  I can't bear to get rid of any of them, since I often re-read almost all of them.

When I get a house years from now, I need a library.  That would be my dream come true.  That is the one thing I want most in any house I own in the future.  I've seen pictures of houses with shelves everywhere.  I need one of those houses.  That would make me so happy.  It would be like living in a library.  (Not that I ever expect to buy enough books to feel a whole house of shelves.  It's just fun to dream about that.)