Fandom Thoughts: The Mortal Instruments

By the Angel, I love Shadowhunters.

A few years ago the thought of saying that phrase (or anything related to The Mortal Instruments series) would not have ever crossed my mind. My mother kept trying to get me to read a series about “demon hunters, vampires, werewolves, and faeries.” As someone who heavily protests the Twilight series, anything with vampires and werewolves did not sound appealing to me. Thank goodness I changed my tune.

My mother had been holding off finishing City of Lost Souls (the fifth book in the series) because she didn’t like where it was heading, and there was one book to go at the time. This was right around the time the City of Bones movie was coming out (more on the movie below). She wanted someone to see the movie with, but I was resistant. She ended up missing it in theaters and decided to purchase it on DVD when it was released.

She was watching it in the living room one Saturday afternoon. I was bored and got caught up watching the movie, still hesitant but growing to like the Jace character (Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace grew more intriguing as the movie continued). By the end of the movie, my mom was telling me what happened next in the series, and I looked up the ending of City of Lost Souls because I had to know what happened (I love spoilers, I can’t stand not knowing things). The natural next step was to give in and read the books.

I fell in love. Cassandra Clare has created a world full of intricacies, intrigue, romance, conflict, big-picture messages, the list goes on. The Mortal Instruments series (TMI) includes six books, the last of which was released this past May: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire. Her writing is so eloquent for a young adult series. And that’s not her only series in the Shadowhunter world.

The Infernal Devices trilogy (TID), comprised of Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess, is a prequel series to TMI. It takes place in Victorian England and, as far as I understand, is really well connected to TMI. It’s next on my list, which is comprised mostly of Cassandra Clare books.

Also currently available is The Shadowhunter’s Codex, a companion to the Shadowhunter world to teach you how to be a Shadowhunter. It’s quite hilarious so far, with notes from TMI characters in the margins.

As mentioned above, City of Bones was adapted into a film. Sadly, it fell way short of what it could have been, thanks to the Hollywood mentality that people don’t read so they won’t care if the movie matches the book. They also think action will draw people into the film, and unfortunately, they changed too much content to make fans happy. I will say, despite it’s shortcomings, the casting was really on-point. Jamie Campbell Bower IS Jace, Lily Collins IS Clary. I know lots of people weren’t happy that Valentine didn’t match the book’s description, but as a fan of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, he plays evil so well that I thought the character was still well-cast. His level of evil outweighed his lack of physical similarities.

The good news for our fandom is that, if City of Ashes is unsuccessful as a film adaptation, we aren’t quite done with the Shadowhunter world. Cassandra Clare has announced two more series in the works. The Dark Artifices series will occur after the events of TMI, and includes Lady Midnight, Prince of Shadows, and Queen of Air and Darkness. The second series, The Last Hours, occurs between TID and TMI, and includes Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron, and Chain of Thorns. Aside from that, there are also e-books, The Bane Chronicles, and she’s announced an installment called The Wicked Powers to wrap up her writing with the Shadowhunters. And while we’ll all be sad when we no longer have new books to look forward to, she’s working on other projects as well, and we still have plenty of years of Shadowhunters to come.

Now that I’m done shamelessly plugging everything Cassandra Clare, I must highly encourage you to read the books. You will laugh, cry, and experience every feel under the sun, but it will be absolutely worth it.

Fair warning: once you start reading it’s hard to stop. You may lose touch with reality for a brief period of time after reading. And remember: all the stories are true.

For more information about the Shadowhunters, visit www.shadowhunters.com.

For more information about Cassandra Clare, visit her tumblr, www.cassandraclare.tumblr.com

In Defense of the Blondes

Full disclosure: I am a natural brunette. I am aware that IQ tests are not the only indicator of intelligence. And I know plenty of smart blondes.

I have an IQ of 140, and when my psychologist gave me the IQ test, he said if I didn’t have Attention Deficit Disorder, I would probably have 20 more points on top of that. I also happen to have Bipolar Disorder, and in an effort to overcome the challenges I face with these disorders, I am trying to be a more positive person. Not sweat the small stuff, you know? I try not to completely avoid conflict, because that’s not healthy, but I try to save my conflict for really important topics. Sometimes that means I give into my manic side a little more than I probably should, but trust me, you’d rather be around a manic version of me than a depressed version of me.

With all that being said, about a week ago, I was at dinner with a co-worker after a particularly, shall we say, exciting shift. I was exhausted and a little manic. At one point in the conversation, he commented that I must be a blonde. I made some clever retort and thought nothing of it. Case closed, right?

Wrong. I mentioned this story to another co-worker yesterday, and her response was completely the opposite of what I expected. She simply said, “I could see that.” I was baffled. So I don’t use SAT words on a regular basis (mostly because most people would be lost about two minutes into my conversations, and they’d zone out or leave). So I’m choosing not to correct as many grammar mistakes people make as I used to (although I still do on occasion, but apparently knowing the proper use of “your” versus “you’re” makes me obnoxious, not intelligent). So I choose not to have thought-provoking conversations at work because, I don’t know, there’s actual work to be doing? Does that mean I am any less of an intelligent human being?

No, it doesn’t. In fact, I feel like it makes me more intelligent. There’s an old saying that you have to know the rules before you can break the rules. I think a similar concept can be applied to intelligence. Sometimes the smartest people are the ones who could say something, but realize the smart decision is to keep their mouth shut so as not to waste their intelligence on someone who thinks “yolo” is a word.

And can we talk for a minute about the usage of “blonde” as an insult in the first place? First of all, there are plenty of smart blonde women. Jennifer Lawrence, that actress everyone loves so much who also happens to be very insightful about life? Naturally blonde. Emma Stone, who everyone loves as a redhead? She’s naturally blonde too. Hilary Clinton, who, despite whatever your political leanings may be, is an established political force who holds her own next to her husband, the former president? Blonde. Gosh, maybe I should be taking being called blonde as a compliment.

Can we also address the fact that calling a guy blonde has absolutely NO bearing on their self-esteem and how other people might see him? So not only, as a woman, do I have to prove myself as equal to (or, in some cases, better than) men, but now I have to be conscious of how my hair color defines what people expect of me. Fair? No. Granted, no one ever said life was supposed to be fair. But I shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not my hair color is going to affect what people think about me. I should be worrying about things that should actually be fair in this world, like equality for everybody and basic needs being met for those who can’t even have clean water or one night’s rest because they’re too busy worrying about whether they’ll survive the night.

So to anyone who feels like insulting someone, blonde or not, by calling them a “blonde,” a word to the wise: that person who you think is acting ditzy? She was going to the third grade for reading when she was six. She taught herself cursive in Kindergarten. She was in gifted classes by second grade and the International Baccalaureate program in middle and high school. She graduated with honors and an IB diploma and was in the Honors College at her university. And she is courteous enough to realize your stupidity and dumb herself down because she wants to hang out with her co-workers like a normal person, rather than be shunned for her intelligence.

You’re welcome.

Why I Should Never Go To London (But Probably Still Will)

I. Love. England.

This is probably fairly obvious given my tumblr name (also my Twitter handle), Anglophile918. I often say that, while other people think they should have been born in another time period, I should have been born in another country. And that country should have been England.

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of things I love about America, but also plenty of things I can’t stand. I’m fairly certain (or at least hopeful) that every country has things their people love and hate about them. England is probably no exception.

If you ask me my favorite television show, the majority of my top ten list are either BBC or BBC America shows, and the remainder are littered with British accents and actors (after all, there are only 12 actors in England anyways, everyone knows that). While several of my favorite young adult authors reside in America, you can bet J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen are two of my favorite authors. I follow news on the British Royal Family like most of my peers follow news on the Kardashians (which makes me want to vomit, that the Kardashians are even on a level of popularity that could be compared with the British Royal Family, but that’s a whole other post).

I want to refer to chips as crisps, cookies as biscuits, soccer as football, cell phones as mobiles, and so on. Unfortunately for me, that would confuse those around me who are not familiar with British vernacular. And yes, I do love a good British accent, although I’m not sure I could ever publicly share my attempt to do so for fear of being told it sounds horrible and insulting.

And that, right there, is why I should never go to London. My friends joke that I’d never leave. And I’d love to go soak up the culture “across the pond.” But I fear my presence in England would be an embarrassment. I should clarify, I live in a tourist city here in America. I work at a theme park, and encounter so many people of so many cultures. I learn a lot, sure, but, as all humans do, I judge. Maybe it’s the American in me. I always cringe when people complain about the way we do things here versus their home country.

Despite my awareness of this touristic habit, I don’t think I’d be able to prevent myself from doing the same. However, in England, I would be the judged, rather than the judge. My attempts to not be rude or insensitive would probably be overshadowed by my excitement to finally be in England, and I would surely subconsciously do or say something that would warrant the same looks of “ugh, a tourist” that I sometimes give. I feel like my trip would be full of not being the typical tourist, instead of enjoying everything the country has to offer.

But let’s be real. I’ll still go.