The Harry Potter Rant

And now, for the long awaited (WRONG!) rant of mine on Harry Potter.

I do this so then I don't have to continually restate my reasons for finding it hard to understand why Harry Potter is entertaining/amazing/worthy of awards out the wazoo.

Now, as I stated in my Twilight rant, just because I'm writing this doesn't mean that I condemn J.K. Rowling's idea. And just as I enjoy the premise behind the Twilight books, it's the same idea with Harry Potter. I like the idea behind bringing the legends and folklore of wizards and other magic-ish ideas into the modern age. I can actually really appreciate it.

But that doesn't mean that Harry Potter is the greatest work of fiction ever.

Now, before anyone goes and reads this thing, I want to throw this out there; I will be going over things that can be considered spoilers. So if you haven't read all of the books and you don't want the endings spoiled in any way, then you should probably stop reading this. If you don't care, then read on!

The first point I want to make is the idea behind Harry's "unbelievable" power. This was a relatively interesting plot for maybe a book or two. But then it got boring. Especially when we found out why. The only reason Harry has any real power is because Voldemort inadvertently gave it to him. Voldemort is the only wizard at all in the entire series that has any true power unprecedented t the wizarding world. Without that, Harry's kind of a bumbling idiot.

The next point is the idea of the scar. Why a freaking lightning bolt? Because it was easy to have someone make-up on a human being? It's not like she ever explains why it's in the shape of a scar, or even why the scar is important by means of a physical ailment. Yes, I know, it sets him apart, it makes it evident that then he can sit there and say, "Ow! My scar!" But scars don't hurt! It's his brain that's hurting more than anything. A scar is merely a remnant of a past pain. True, this is meant for children, but there are people that are actually in their 30s and 40s that are going nuts over these books.

"Only I can defeat Voldemort!" Why is that exactly? Oh, right, because Voldemort put a piece of his soul into Harry, along with his power. So otherwise, no one can even try to fight Voldemort. Even though, I'm sure that if Harry were the strong wizard that he his (which he isn't), then he'd be able to train and help teach other people about what he knows. Instead, he just sort of sits around and mooches off of Hermione. I mean, think about it, Hermione is the only young witch with any real ability to use spells and be even remotely intelligent about fighting with little pointy sticks.

This then leads to the fact that Harry is, without a doubt, the worst leader ever to have been used in a story where a leader is crucial and important. Seriously, he's the most horrible choice out of everyone in the books. I mean, even Nevil eventually steps up and becomes a strong leader. But throughout all 7 books he's still the same whiny little child that gripes and moans about all of the stupid little things that happen to him. Leaders, true actual ones don't allow themselves to be affected by the frustrating/angering/upsetting/annoying things that happen in life. But instead, Harry lets literally everything get to him.

Take the beginning of book 4 for example. So Harry let's Sirius know about the whole "someone put my name into the Goblet of Fire and now I'm in the game" thing and Sirius, being an overprotective oaf, tells Harry he's coming to Hogwarts right away. A moment before getting this note, Harry had been happy talking with his friends. But the moment he reads the note, he suddenly, out of nowhere, decides that the best course of action is to punch the table in front of him and scream about how horrible he is for having told his godfather about the Goblet of Fire thing.

And thus, we as readers are then stuck with "Angsty Harry" for the rest of the freaking series.

And people want to call him a good leader? How do they see this? I'd love to know where they get that notion. And it doesn't have anything to do with the whole, "He has no choice, he has to be a leader against Voldemort". No, he really doesn't. Technically, Harry makes the choice that he's a leader and the only one who can lead anyone to victory against Voldemort. But in actuality, anyone of the kids from Hogwarts could stand up and be a leader - like Nevil does in the last book. But instead, everyone just goes along with the 'fact' that Harry knows better than everyone.

Okay, Harry's an idiot.

And don't go saying "it makes him believable". No, it really doesn't. It just makes him look stupid. I mean, what 11 year old decides to take matters into his own hands and go after the diabolical madman that's trying to kill everyone in the world? Not even actual stupid children do things like that! Kids in the real world, especially at 11 years old, don't think that they're better then the rest of the world that no rules apply to them. Rules, like when teachers/parents/authority figures tell you to go to bed and stay there, shouldn't be disobeyed. I mean, think back to book number one. When Harry, Mr. 'I'm-the-boy-who-lived-therefore-I-know-better-than-anyone-and-can-beat-a-seasoned-evil-wizard-but-no-one-else-can', decides that he'll take matters into his own hands, go mess with a huge Cerberus named "Fluffy" (how dare you name an awesome mythical creature THAT?!), go risk his best friends lives, risk his own life, and hunt down the man that already almost killed him. If Harry had just stayed in his room, like he was told, then Dumbledore would have come back to Hogwarts and stopped Voldemort or whomever he was fused together with at the time, and the whole thing would have been over!

So this means that stupid children do not grow up to be amazingly awesome leaders in battles for earth!

The next point is the whole "Ron & Hermione" relationship thing. Now, I've already had debates about this with people, and they all say the same thing: "I know they're meant to be together because they end up together in the books!"

Woopdee-freaking-doo. I know that they end up together. I'm not an infant. I did read the books. That however, does not mean that they would actually live a happy, long life together. I say the two together because they'd either have marital problems that led to a divorce or an affair, or they'd kill one another. Seriously; I have never seen two complete opposites like them get together and stay together for the rest of their natural lives. I know that this is fiction and what not, but Rowling did base the story in the real world. So therefore, the logical end to this is that IT WOULD NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

My last point, because I'm tired of typing, is about the ending. This alone will take a while for me to go on about. The first thing I'd like to say is: a trainstation? With Dumbledore? What kind of crazy kid is this?

Anyway, the final battle. I don't think there's any way that any writer or random obligatory person in general could screw up a great epic battle more than Rowling did in book 7. For those of you that didn't read the books yet and are still reading this, essentially, the whole huge battle that we've been waiting years and books to get to, ends like this: Harry and Voldemort stare at one another, a few minor words are exchanged, they both scream their favorite spell, (which, by the way, Harry was told to NOT do; make a trademark spell), and Harry kills Voldemort.

Seriously, that's how it ends.

I wanted to scream. I had been reading these books for months, waiting to get to the end, sufferieng through Angsty Harry and all of the stupid thing that were randomly thrown into the books, and it took all of a paragraph to finish. I kept flipping the page back and forth, wondering what I had missed. Surely Voldemort would get back up. I mean, it can't end like that. So I continued to read the book and upon reading the last chap - oops, I mean "Epilogue" - I sat in my chair and said to myself, "Yep, it actually ended like that. What a letdown."

I mean, who in their right mind makes two characters that, for like, five books, you claim are really powerful and "neither can live while the other one dies" or whatever, and then have the whole major confrontation go down in a paragraph! You don't freaking do that! You just don't. It's anticlimactic. You've spent books - really, really long books - waiting to get to this moment, and you threw it on the ground and spat on it! I know that a lot of people believe that she got tired of writing the books. Okay, I can understand that, so screw up on the rest of the book. Heck, make me hate the entire first half like whatsherface that wrote Twilight. Don't mess up the ending of what you've already made up in our minds as an epic battle!

Then the last thing is that last, stupid, little sentence. It's been engrained into my brain ever since I read it. "Harry's scar hadn't hurt in 12 years" (or however many years, I can't remember exactly how many). To that I literally said out loud, "Well no duh! Voldemort's dead!" If the cause of the problem is gone, poof, then of course his freaking scar isn't going to hurt!

So please, someone, other than Adam Turck, explain to me why these are your favorite books. Even after all of this.

And for clarification, I have read all 7 books, I have seen every movie that's come out and I will see every movie that continues to come out to theaters (my sister-in-law is a Harry Potter fan). So it's not that I hate the books. I just don't understand the whole "Harry Potter is the greatest" stuff.

STAR TREK

So, yes, I saw Star Trek. My reaction?

It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in a long time. The writing truly was excellent. A perfect mix of humor with seriousness and catastrophe. There were a number of times when I was cracking up so much that I almost started crying. I really did love the writing, because they could have butchered it, but did a great job making it entertaining.

The cast?

I think I'm going to have to point them each out individually. Because they were all wonderful. Only read if you don't care about spoilers.

Chris Pine, for me, was a very pleasant surprise. He was amazing in his ability to just make me crack up. There's a point in the movie when he has an allergic reaction and the interactions between himself, Zoe Saldana, and Karl Urban are spot on and a great spot of humor in the middle of the story. I loved watching him play Kirk as he tries to find his way through the world. And the Kobiashi Maru test? Hilarious! Towards the end of the movie, Spock, (Zachary Quinto), is quoting the probability that they will be successful is under 5%. Kirk then says, quite simply, "Spock, it'll work". Pine's delivery of the line sounds remarkably like Shatner. It was a quick trip down memory lane.

Zachary Quinto, as many already know, is someone I respect as an actor from watching him play Sylar on Heroes. Once again he did a great job portraying my favorite Star Trek character - Spock. Seeing Spock's origins was very nice to experience. Yes, we've seen in the show and movies little glimpses into his past, but not quite as much as we were allowed to see in the new movie. But for me, the most wonderful thing to see was the performances of both Zachary Quinto and Jacob Kogan, who played the young Spock. The struggle to find a balance between Human and Vulcan was something that we as fans have never been allowed to see before. It was refreshing to look into a different side of the character. My favorite Spock moment? Hm. Probably when Pine makes Kirk 1st officer and Spock says "Captain, I'm sorry. The complexities of humor escape me."

Karl Urban as Bones. Talk about someone getting the diction down! The moment he started on the screen talking about his "fear of dying in something that flies" and the effects of Angorian Shingles, it was like listening to DeForest Kelly all over again. And like I said when talking about Chris Pine in the allergic reaction scene, he was brilliant. "I can fix that!" I completely believe that he's just beginning to figure out where he belongs on the Enterprise. When Spock informs him that obviously he's going to have to assume the roles of Cheif Medical Officer, and he's already assumed that was the case and took over. It was a step into his role that he didn't need to be told to do, which is so like Bones.

Now, in order to talk about Zoe Saldana, I'll have to take a moment to talk about the whole relationship thing. If I saw her getting together with anyone, it was Kirk. Yes, in the series and the movies they did hint at something possibly being there, but back then, they hinted at everything. The only true reason I actually accept it was her and Zachary Quinto's performances. They made it completely believable. Because of that, I can take what used to be impossible and make it possible. I may not be the biggest fan of it, but hey, if that's the only blip on the radar, then I'll take it.

But Zoe Saldana. She was wonderful. I had forgotten that she had stared in X-Men: The Last Stand, until I watched it again this past weekend. Regarding Star Trek however, I loved the slight pause she gave Pike when he told her to relieve a Lutenent on the bridge. That slight amount of unease was all I needed to see. For the remainder of the movie, she seems much more at ease with her sudden promotion, but at that first moment, where she seems unsure of herself for the slightest second. That meant the world to me. It showed me that she may seem tough as nails on the outside, but inside, she's probably terrified of screwing up. My favorite moment for her was the scene when Kirk runs to her with his allergic reaction. "Oh my God, what happened to your hands?!"

John Cho as Sulu. His introduction was great. Trying to go to warp and forgetting something that only took a second to fix. His reaction was excellent. He just sat there, looked frustrated with himself and pushed a button, "We're ready for warp". My favorite moment for him was probably when Kirk asked what kind of training he'd had and he replies simply, "Fencing". What a great throwback to George Takai!

Anton Yelchin as Chekov. Okay, first off, his accent was dead on. Like, I know he doesn't look quite like Walter Koenig, but his voice sounded exactly like what I remembered from the movies and series! And I totally believed that he was seventeen. His unparalleled enthusiasm showed that more than anything. His excitement at finding out that he knew how to save Kirk and Sulu was so superb. The announcment over the ship about the mission was fantastic!

And Simon Pegg? Do I need to say more? When he said Scotty's trademark line, cheers errupted from the audience mixing with laughter. Which was the case when anyone said a line we all as fans recognized. Pegg as Scotty was a great bit of comic relief. When Kirk first meets him and hears about the failed experiment, I was cracking up. "I'll tell you when he reappears."

Eric Bana as Nero was terrific. A man so misguided by revenge for the death of his world that he can't see beyond the possibility that he had already changed what he preceived as history. But it's compellingly believable. When Pike says that he's mistaken, that Romulus was fine, he screams in both anger and agony, "Don't tell me it didn't happen! I saw it happen!" You half want to cry and half want to kill him. You understand his side of the story, you understand his pain. But on the flip side you just saw Spock's complete torment, (I started crying. Whenever I see Zachary Quinto start to cry I want to bawl my eyes out).

Bruce Greenwood. He has some great lines. Now Pike in the original series only was around, if you count the first pilot, for three episodes. So we don't have much of a feel for him. But Greenwood seems to reach out, trying to bring Kirk under his wing. The relationship that he has with Kirk is pretty wonderful. He does change Kirk's life, and puts him on course to become at least somewhat of the man that we know.

And last, but most certainly not least is the marvelous, legendary Leonard Nimoy. How extraordinary is it to see him back on the big screen? Pretty extraordinary. I loved to see Kirk's reaction to "Spock Prime" and his version of the past. And naturally, when he did the Vulcan salute, I, being the nerd I am, showed the Vulcan salute to the screen. It was nice to see Spock at peace with himself and his duality, which technically we haven't seen yet. I will never turn down seeing Leonard Nimoy on screen as Spock. He did introduce the world to my favorite character.

The last comment; JJ Abrams. I don't think he's ever going to make anything I hate. I think, from here on out, I'm going to just blatently trust him.

The music was...well, I'm a pretty bad person to ask about music from movies. But the theme, I think, was great. Very memorable. All the way down to Philadelphia, the theme was stuck in my head. It's the next score I plan on buying. It was defintely sweepingly epic, and every now and then the slow, quiet, emotional music just displayed that the whole thing was amazing.

Overall, Star Trek was brilliant. The casting was great, the interactions of the team was great, and long live the magnificent seven! Me being crazy was so psyched for the movie that as the music began to play and the Paramount screen showed up, I thought I was going to pass out from excitement. I know, I'm a dork.

I'm sorry if I screwed up the story for anyone. This movie is all I can think about. And I did see it twice in one day. 7pm with the family and a few friends and then 11:40 in IMAX with Tara. Pretty amazing right?

To cast, crew, and everyone that helped to make this movie and ressurrecting Star Trek, thank you!!

It's Late, But...

It's late, and I'm exhausted, and I wish I had more energy.

My brother, oldest of us four, became a married man as of 3 something today. It's exciting and amazing to think that we've been blessed with someone who not only wants to willingly join our messed up family, but on top of that she actually likes us!

I'm completely blown away. As I said, I'm exhausted, and want nothing more than to sleep, but at the same time want to just sit and write for hours in my journal or on this blog about this major change in our family. The first of us is married, and is beginning to look at a house for them to live in. It's unbelievable, and extraordinary, to think that much time as really gone by.

The bride, a wonderful and very, very sweet young woman named Mallory has, as I said, willingly joined our family (and the horror of becoming an alliteration; Mallory Markloff). And, even though she was absolutely terrified at the prospect of getting up in front of people and having to be the center of attention for the day, did an amazingly awesome job. She even let me take pictures of her.

Although I must say that while we were in the midst of taking pictures in the chapel, after the service, her best friend's mom said, "Mallory, put your hand on your hip like you had before, and look like you're disgusted with us."

Mallory replied, "I am disgusted with you."

I couldn't help but laugh. She's got a great wit that just fits so perfectly with our family. I don't think any of us could search the world over and find a better mach for my brother to spend the rest of his life with. She is absolutely perfect for him. And I am so honored to be able to call her my sister-in-law. I've enjoyed, greatly, the past 7 months getting to know her and her habits. And it's been a joy.

My nerves are restless. I truly do wish I were a Vulcan where I wouldn't need to sleep. Especially on days like this. But I, being human, need the rest. Especially after the past week of stress-filled preparation. But thank God for the small things. Everything today worked out perfectly. Everyone was great, and I thank everyone that had a part in it, on behalf of the family. Without you guys, and your tremendous support, we wouldn't have been able to pull this off. Your care, devotion and love to my brother and new sister mean the world to us. From the bottom of my (and our) hearts, thank you.

I may write more later, who knows. But for now, it is late, and I should be off to bed. The next blog will probably be my Harry Potter Rant. I've already written it up, it just need to be typed.

Good night world. And once again, thank you to all :D

Twilight: The Rant

We will now take a moment to discuss something that has become a crazy, uncontrolled cult.

"Twilight"

This series of books, for some reason, has completely overcome the population of American Teenagers, high school students, and even, dare I say it, college students. Even some parents are going nuts over these books. And me, a writer, has to wonder, "Why?"

I know some friends, and even some people that I have come to debate books often with, have come to absolutely love these books. Me? I don't quite understand it. This is going to be my rant on my, apparent, inability to understand why these are "amazing" or "stunning" books.

First, saying that the books are not my favorite and that I find them relatively childlike does not mean that I rebuke the idea Stephanie Meyer (or however you spell her last name) has brought to the world for our entertainment. In fact I quite admire her for her creativity in that aspect. I sincerely enjoy the idea behind bringing the myths of vampires and werewolves into the modern age and incorporating it rather well (at times).

But, that doesn't mean that I own every book and reread them until pages fall out.

My first, major concern with her writing is this; the spelling and grammatical errors that she so frequently has within the full confines of the books. If it were just the first one, I'd look it over, but it's throughout all four! The way she adds comas randomly and occasionally puts words in that do not need to be there, (take note to the back cover of the first book. "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him"? What's the need for irrevocably to be used in that sentence? Aside for everyone to quote it non-stop thinking it's an amazing bit of literature).

By the time I got to the fourth book, which yes, I did read them all and I did see the movie. I don't judge a series until I've read the fullness of it. Without the full understanding of all the books in the series, (no matter how dull), who am I to write a rant such as the one I'm currently writing? Anyway, by the time I made it to the book three of book four, I wanted to take my pen and start marking up the book I was borrowing. Every single freakin' time that someone said "Yeah, me too", she adds a coma! It's not like, once in a blue moon there's another coma, it's EVERY time. "Yeah, me, too".

Who speaks like that? Do you pause between each word in a three word sentence? I normally don't, not that I'm an example of excellent diction or grammatical skills. Here, I'll explain. When I read "Yeah, me, too", I read it in my head as "Yeah...me...too". Because comas are used as pauses. Otherwise, there's no use for them! Ellipsis (that's what ... is called), are meant to be used as a reference guide. When you see ..., it means that there was more text there, but it was irrelevant to whatever the quotation is. (My dictionary defines it as "omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences").

My second major gripe with Twilight is the...third (?) book, Stephanie Meyer throws a gigantic monkey wrench into Bella's life by having Jacob so obsessed with her, (not that Bella should care, she'd rather have Edward, who stalks her, breaks into her house and watches her as she sleeps than a normal human being), that he's convinced that by kissing her, she'll fall in love with him.

I really would love someone to explain that theory to me. Does that mean that if I want someone to love me, and if we're meant to be together, I can just walk up to them and start making out with them? See, in the real world, (which is where this story is supposed to take place mind you), that would be grounds to have a restraining order put on not only me, but Jacob himself. In theory, Bella could have a court keep him fifty feet away from her, otherwise he could go to jail. I know, I know, it's no fun that way.

Seriously though, when, what, halfway through the book and everyone's like, "newborn vampires, aaah!", and for some reason Bella asks Jacob to kiss her, (I can't remember why, I honstly wasn't paying that much attention), and suddenly, it's like a spotlight went off in Bella's head. Suddenly, out of the blue, she comes to the realization that she's actually, (fancy this), in love with Jacob just as she's in love with Edward.

Because, in parallel skewed reality, you can be "unconditionally and irrevocably in love" with two people at the same time.

Like I said, I would gladly welcome an understanding to this theory. You too Stephanie Meyer! You're welcome to comment! Not that I expect someone like her to be reading a blog by someone like me.

The next thorn in the side of the Twilight series is book two. Yes, the whole thing. Well, maybe not the whole thing. I think I enjoyed a total of three chapters. Yeah, those last three. When Edward came back and there seemed to be a life to the story again. The other majority of the book? I wanted to rip out and burn. It was absolutely horrible.

No one wants to read about a depressive child whining and complaining about how completely and utterly destroyed her life is that "the only man she'll ever love", (even though in book three she realizes she's in love with Jacob too), is gone from her life. I literally wanted to find a way to manifest Bella so I could beat her up. I was tired of hearing about how her life sucked. The whole time, I kept chanting in my head, as if it would somehow change what had already been written in the book, "cry me a river, build me a bridge and get the heck over it". Life sucks, and then you die. Well, not her apparently.

But it wasn't just emo depressive Bella that made me detest reading book two. No, I think what I hated more was Edward, Mr. I'm-so-intelligent-and-wise-from-my-immortal-life-of-forever-that-I-don't-need-to-listen-to-the-woman-I-love idiot. (That sentence took far too much concentration). He blatently ignores her pleas in the beginning of the book and leaves her. Litterally picks up and runs away. Then he's freakin' miserable too. Rather than, oh, I don't know, listen to one another and talk it out, he's wuss and runs away from the problem, rather than attack it head on. He continually acts, throughout the entire series, like he's always going to know better than anyone else.

I know he's stuck at the physical age of 17, but for Christ's sake, mature a little! You're past puberty, and mentally he should be mature enough to handle a situation like this. Or at least get advice from Carlile. I feel like Carlile would be the number one person to address issues such as the ones he and Bella face with. But Edward walks around as if, because he's a vampire and is immortal, that he will forever be perfect and have and understanding beyond anyone else.

Yeah, he can read minds. Woopdie freakin' doo. I don't care. I doubt Bella cared. She was in love with him, and he claimed to be in love with her till the end of time, yet he never actually listens to her ideas or theories or anything! Some "perfect" man.

My final gripe about Twilight: the media hype.

Not that media hype is bad! And not that every story doesn't deserve it's own following. It's more of that everywhere I go it's "Twilight this" and "Twilight that". Enough already! I read the books, I watched the movie - twice at that - and still it's all I see. I walk into Wal-mart and that's all they're advertizing. I turn on my computer and open my e-mail and I've got Borders telling me to get the "best DVD of the year".

Did anyone even watch the movie?

It was, quite possibly, one of the most absurdidly awkward hour and a half of my life - and it wasn't even my life! It was watching this really horribly directed and lighted and casted movie unfold before me. I could feel myself shrinking as the movie progressed, hoping to somehow manifest through the floor and out the door so I wouldn't be seen watching it. It wasn't the worst movie I've seen, (that honor goes to Napolean Dynamite), but it was pretty bad.

Now then. I believe I am done. My next entry will be on Harry Potter. Yes, I know, I may wind up getting run over or shot at or even (heaven forbid) glared at, but I must voice my opinion on how Miss Rowling did such a wonderfully horrid job writing out her stories.

Isn't That the Point Anyway?

As I come home from work, around eleven at night, I find my mom, still sitting up trying to find things for the wedding in less than two weeks. I sit up with her until midnight trying to offer advice, (what little I have) to help ease the situation. I give her a couple of sites online to look at in hopes that maybe, one of them will find something cheap that won't add more stress to my poor mom.

At one point, while looking at her, tired and worn out from the entire situation, I asked "What's the point of this anyway?"

She asked what I meant, and I said, "Well, isn't the whole point of this day we're gonna celebrate be all about Jon and Mallory wanting to spend the rest of their lives together? If that's the case, then why the heck does it matter that we've gotta have fifty dollar tablecloths?" She responded that with something like this, which I finished, "Yeah, appearance is everything."

This, among many other things I can point out, is what makes us as human beings, and Americans, stupid.

Why you ask? Because the whole day is gonna be about my brother finding someone he wants to grow old with - and her wanting to grow old with him! So why in God's name do we have to worry about making sure that we all look nice and that the tables look nice and that the flowers look nice and that the cake looks nice and that we look nice?? Why can't I just show up in blue jeans and a semi-dressy t-shirt? Why is it that if I did show up like that I would be shunned and looked down upon?? Because at a wedding a girl is supposed to be all pretty and have her hair made up and walk around in really uncomfortable high heeled shoes and wear a dress that is obscenely annoying to walk around in and look happy at all moments because at a wedding, girls don't have many options on behavior. You're either smiling because you're just "so happy for everyone", or you're crying because, "everyone cries at a wedding".

Psha. America is stupid. My brother and his lovely and wonderful fiancee should have just eloped. It would have saved a boatload of stress on everyone involved.

Me? If I ever get married, plan on having it on a mountain or in the middle of nowhere with my close friends and family and wearing either blue jeans and a t-shirt or a really freakin' simple dress. Nothing fancy - heck, it may even be something I've worn eight hundred times! But nothing big or crazy. So what if I get angry letters asking why so-and-so and what's-his-face didn't get invited? SUCK IT UP! Weddings are expensive! Not everyone has an endless wallet that only grows and never shrinks. And not everyone can pull one off with their sanity in tact.

My poor mom stays up all night and then gets up early for work and then comes home and worries and works more on this wedding. I feel helpless - which I am - and want nothing more but to smack everyone that says "appearance matters". It does, yes, but it shouldn't. I really, really shouldn't. This day, this coming April 4th is going to be a day my brother and his wife remember for the rest of their lives. So why should it matter what the table looked like or whether the flowers were real? Who cares?? They're happy!

Okay, my fingers hurt from typing so fast. I'm gonna end this rant here. Tune in tomorrow for a rant on Harry Potter and Twilight. That's right fans, I'm gonna obliterate those stories like nobodies business. Why? 'Cause I, like you, am entitled to an opinion.