Sumpta

4 years, of which 3 as a member.

Been a while since I slayed consistently, but they seem to be about even. But if you're looking for a nice combination of slayer experience beyond 85 + a bit of profit + charms, demons definitely win by a good noselength. Plus, a luckless abby task is a lot less frustrating than a luckless spiritual mage task, since you're sure to get your charms and some alchable drops.

Well, his attitude works well for Bella, you know, taking into account that she really is very needy and hazardprone. You can get why he feels he should protect her, because she's not looking out for herself at all. It makes sense for an immortal unchangeably in love with a mortal to be constantly and obsessively worried she'll die. It's reflected in his attitude when she's changed into a vampire, he quits hovering, even when he knows she's keeping something from him. In Midnight Sun, there's one hilarious tidbit where Edward wonders if she's really mentally sane, and he briefly considers taking her to the very best mental hospital, including visitation rights for himself. Hehe. Hold on, I just have to copy it, it's just too... Edward.

I love Italian wines. I prefer red over white. Also love bubbles. And cocktails. My favourite is Mai Tai (amaretto, brown rum, lemon juice and a few maraschino cherries). Beer not so much.

Ian McEwan is a great contemporary writer. He's very lyrical, a very good story-teller, and there's always a (disturbing) twist to his stories. On Chesil Beach is fabulous, and short, a good starting point. It tells the story of the first wedding night of a couple married in the fifties. Harry Potter is great to read, but it's not great literature. Don't get me wrong, I loved reading the series, but in my mind, a book is only literature when it changes something about you or when it's a thing of beauty (in story, language, characters,...). Nothing big per se, nor does it have to have a lasting effect, but just making you look at the world a bit differently, adding a little something to your views or yourself.

Edward is weird in the books too. Seriously. Have you read the non-finished Midnight Sun? (You can find it on Meyer's website.) It's Twilight (first 12 chapters or so) from the point of view of Edward. I'm telling you, the guy has issues. He has mood swings, he loathes himself, he's socially awkward and his obsessiveness about Bella is disturbing. Pretty much every scene in Twilight where Bella thought Edward wasn't there? He was. Ack. I think Robert Pattison really got that well, I believe he explains somewhere that he played Edward like a manic-depressive 108 year old virgin. Spot on.

Skipping everything I've seen in my absence from TIF the last few months, I've watched Interview with the Vampire this weekend - Ever since I wrote my thesis paper (Urgh! The horror!) on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, I've been avoiding anything to do with them. Then I read and saw Twilight, and I got such an overdose of manic-depressive sparkling god-vampires, that I needed the better stuff to get on my feet again. The film has flaws, but unlike many other films from the early 90's, it hasn't become outdated. God knows I'm not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, but he's devilish, handsome and downright funny as Lestat.

Well, ehm, my first reflex is to shout, Monty Python-wise, RUN AWAY! She's behaving like a teenage girl, and boy, they can be mean. Without really wanting to be, though. She seems to be testing how far she can push you by pulling you closer and pushing you away... It's the typical phenomenon of an insecure girl who's testing out what powers of She she has over guys, and in this case, you. I'm not saying you should ditch her, but you seem to have the good attitude about it. Let her sort out her issues herself before you get too involved.

I'm not really against the news threads as such. I think what's worse is that some people just copy paste a piece of news and then go "opinions plz". If you do post a piece of news, please do so to raise some point you yourself have something to say about.

As a Belgian, I have not only been shocked by the news, but also by the awful journalism that went with it. Both the press and civilians have shown how dearly they love sensation. Psychiatrists, lawyers, politicians etc were ready to comment and to give their opinions without even a shred of information. The criminal who did this was reported to be a known criminal and a psychiatric patient even before his name was known to the police. It's truly disgusting how people are satisfying their need for sensation and short-lived fame, thinly veiled by their so-called concern for the victims.

Statistically, girl mature quicker. The good thing about statistics: you get interesting information. The bad thing: it's generally useless in day-to-day life. Maturity, to me, depends on a lot of factors. Not just gender, but also upbringing, genetics, surroundings, character and life events. My mother always claimed I was born old; I'm still wondering if it's really a compliment, but I do know that the stuff that happened to me as a child made me grow up a lot quicker than most of my peers. Also, maturity and immaturity aren't always mutually exclusive. It's perfectly possible to be mature about a number of things and a completely immature [bleep] about others. Edit: oh come on, I didn't use that strong a curse word... This makes me look immature, wah.

As a teenager I was never easily impressed by peer pressure. Strangely enough, as I grow older, I do find that I compare myself more often with my peers. 'I'm not marrying, nor getting pregnant, but a lot of my friends are, hmm. Am I missing out on something here?' Or the reverse: 'Damn it, I was never going to be that 9 to 5 working girl like the rest of them, when did this happen?' I think we all compare ourselves to people our own age, just to question where we stand and how we feel about life in general. It's when you do things only because the others are doing it too, that it becomes unhealthy.

Aaaand I believe we just witnessed a Freudian lapsus ;). By the way, nice to see you back on TIF! And congratulations on the birth of your son!

Haha, this problem is one of the reasons God invented dogs. They have the amazing power to eradicate all small talk within a 50m radius of their bodies. Or to attract it, depending on the breed.

Oh god, yes, small talk. I hate it. It's really odd how when you meet a stranger, it's sometimes very easy to slip into meaningless conversation and sometimes downright impossible. It makes me wonder if it's a chemistry thing or something. Also, I often find it easier to have small talk with complete strangers than with people I know vaguely (e.g. a friend of a friend). Anyway, whenever I know I have to go networking and/or meet new people, I really have to peptalk myself into it. I start playing the role of "social Helena", who is slightly kinder, duller and dumber than the real thing. I only unleash my real self on those who I know can handle it :. Sometimes, when I get too nervous, I get into overdrive though, and unleash "hypersocial Helena" on the unsuspecting world... Not good.

This, but the reverse, as I am a girl. I figure I wouldn't really feel that different as a guy, but this is something I'm very curious about. Next to that, I'd sort of test how strong I would be and see if I could actually hit a ball with a bat now... See if my eye-hand coordination actually improved by a higher amount of testosteron, hehe. Oh, and I'd leer unashamedly at both men and women for the day :D.

Oh yes, Much Ado is fabulous! The bickering between Beatrice and Bene[bleep] is absolutely hilarious. Screwball avant la lettre. And it's been made into a pretty good film version (rare for Shakespeare) by Kenneth Brannagh.

Hehe, well, it is a series people love to hate and hate to love, so it makes sense :.

Even if that were true, what's your point?

Well, I've read a bit more in this thread, and I have an addition to make to what I said earlier. There is one thing I do dislike about the Twilight-haters. Apart from the valid points they make about the plot, characterisation, morals and style of these books, there seem to be plenty of males dissing Twilight because "oh noes, now all those silly silly girls want me to be this glorious and dazzling Edward and I'll never ever get a date for the rest of my life." Newsflash, this is how most girls feel all through their teens. They feel like they have the harshest time living up to the supermodel ideals and fantasies of your average teenage boy as well.

The Seventh Veil's coming out on dvd? Oh, you made my day, it's been on my rapidly expanding "why can't I find this anywhere?" wish list for forever now! It has many many faults, but Mason's acting in it is just mind-boggling. Haven't seen Bigger than Life, I'll put it on my pick-up list for my next order.

Ha, yeah, I think I have already described my reaction to that moment in the film earlier on this thread. It was the very embarassing time when I snorted out loud in the cinema. And not by any means ladylike... The whole cinema was laughing at me, rather than because of the film :. By the way, it's really funny how Hepburn-Grant have this tremendous chemistry, yet they hardly ever kiss. In the Philadelphia Story, you only see a "photo" of their kissing at the very end, and even then it's barely a kiss. In Holiday, you get a fade-out when their lips meet, again at the very end. Very impressive, such a pity they didn't work on more films together. Edit: oh and yeah. Hepburn was pretty much box office poison in her time. Bringing up Baby flopped, heaven knows why. And today a lot of people hate her for her infamous Bryn Mawr accent. I really don't get it...

Awww! Any Katharine Hepburn-Cary Grant film is fantastic, but Bringing up Baby must be one of the funniest films of all time. I've seen it like 5 times already, and I still fall off the couch laughing every single time. "Oh look David, I was born on the side of a hill!" The Katharine-haters out there should all be forced to watch her 'prison break' scene...

Hi there, long time indeed! I'm fine, I'm fine. You? And by the by: James Mason! I have searched the whole of London to find a dvd of the Seventh Veil with Mason, but no such luck...

Just got the following DVD package: - The Godfather Trilogy - The Third Man - Enchanted - North By Northwest - Annie Hall Still waiting for this poster to be delivered (any day now): And currently thinking of buying movie stills (28x36 cm) with my favourite stars in my favourite films of the 40's to cover a wall in my new house... (James Stewart, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Bogart & Bacall,...)