skygiants

Title: The Host Club's Refreshing Interdimensional Tour!
Characters: The entire host club, plus assorted special guests
Word Count: 3351
Summary: Does what it says on the label, guys. In other news, this is quite possibly the silliest thing I have ever written.

( Nobody will own up to having made the terrible decision to show Tamaki a science-fiction film, which is probably wise, since, whoever that person was, Kyouya seems quite likely to have them quietly assassinated as soon as their identity is revealed. )

Oh, Laurence Yep, how are your books so heavy-handed and yet so ridiculously adorable?

When I picked up Thief of Hearts (the most modern-set of his Golden Mountain chronicles about multiple generations of a Chinese family in San Francisco) it was mostly because I figured just from the title that it was likely to be a romance, and I as I have never seen him do one before I was kind of bizarrely curious to see how Yep handled that. It turns out: no, it is not a romance! Instead, it is a MYSTERY. Except not really, mostly it's about a preteenager learning about herself and bonding with her awesome great-grandma and figuring out that her mom is secretly maybe a little bit cool.

The plot, such as it is, centers around half-Chinese Stacy, who is given the arduous task by her parents of showing new immigrant Hong Ch'un around school. At first, bonding is not so much happening. (Bonding does not even really happen by the end of the book, which I actually really liked - Hong Ch'un and Stacy learn to understand each other more over the course of the story, but they absolutely don't become insta-friends.) Except then someone starts stealing stuff! And Hong Ch'un is accused and runs away! Which is basically an excuse for Stacy and her mom and her great-grandmother to take a ROAD TRIP from the suburbs into Chinatown to look for her and have stealth bonding.

Things that Laurence Yep is awesome with: AMAZING OLD LADIES. Stacy's great-grandma may not be as awesome as Aunt Lil, because NO ONE is as awesome as Aunt Lil, but she is still pretty cool. Also, believable preteen friendship dynamics - I actually thought the plotline with Karen, Stacy's clingy childhood best friend, was . . . okay, obvious, but also interesting and well-handled, and none of Stacy's other friendships are put into the standard identity-crisis-storyline boxes. Also, the totally adorable details! The SPY NETWORK OF AWESOME OLD PEOPLE! Stacy's dad up on the roof with a cherry branch to pollinate the cherry trees! I don't know, man, this one may not be great literature, but somehow whenever I read a Laurence Yep I usually just end up beaming at the world for a few hours after. I also think I need to read Child of the Owl next, which is the one about Stacy's mom. (When she's twelve, so presumably before she's got it going on. - man, did I really date myself with that reference?)

Other things, by the way, that are also totally adorable: Disney's Rapunzel! (It has another name; I've forgotten it.) I suspect that the Mother Gothel-Rapunzel relationship may have been given a lot more depth and complexity in my head than we actually see onscreen, but it's hard for me to tell because I find the version in my head so interesting. Overall I thought the film spent a lot of time being really, really pretty. And I am totally okay with that. (The lantern scene! I just sat there with my eyes like this *_______*) I don't really want to think about it in too much more depth, because other issues aside, ( sort-of spoilers! )

Also, the angry dictatorial horse made the movie.

Okay, last top five request from littledust: Top Five Villainnesses!

( I actually managed to narrow it down to five this time! Mostly. )

Your turn! Favorite villainnesses? I know there are many awesome ones I did not have room to name!

Right, so as you may have gathered, there were fair amounts of insanity going on this weekend. Some of it should never be shared with the world. Some of it already has been!

However, among the things I do feel the need to share are a set of the BEST YOUTUBE VIDS EVER.

Ariel Found Jasmine - A love triangle: OH YES, IT IS WHAT YOU THINK, AND IT IS AWESOME. WITH SUBTITLES OF JOY.

Also with subtitles of joy: Mulan and Pocahontas. It is important to read the sidebar that explains how Mulan is a part of the English army. The ending is only terrifying if you already have a terrifying mind!

Esmerelda and Megara has no subtitles; however, it does have Esmerelda shaking her tambourine at Megara and Megara shaking her hips at Esmerelda, so I still count it a win!