13 happy suicides.

Arthur: I've never heard so much rubbish in my entire life.

Merlin: Are you calling Gaius a liar?

Arthur: No, I'm calling you an idiot.

Merlin: What's that, then?

Merlin, Season 4, Episode 13 - The Sword in the Stone (Part Two)

I'd call it a series of happy suicides. I've waited for this particular season for almost a century now, (in my besotted mind) and to be able to finish all 13 episodes in 2 days should keep me sane for another year. In my humble opinion, season 3 is still by far the best of all but a lot of people may disagree. But it's really just an opinion, OK? Let's not cross swords because of this. We Merlinians/Merlinknights (whichever you prefer) should stick together.

Now season 4. Hm. There were moments in which I was like, 'Argh bencinya! I can't watch this anymore!' but I still watched them. Sick. There were lots of those moments in this season it almost drove me mad. Like when Lancelot's Shade came back and when Arthur was to marry another woman. I was like, 'I can't watch this!!' But it had been great, the whole season. Really. Arthur is still the hottest damn thing to have ever graced the TV screen (nobody is allowed to disagree, and if you do, we're no longer friends) - golden hair and blue eyes, uneven front teeth and British, bullying Merlin and wielding the Excalibur - I have to re-watch this. I seriously have to. Gwen is so pretty - the hair, the dress and the character development - and her intelligence is now more visible. More like a queen now she is. Then there is Morgana, gorgeous, gorgeous Morgana - now more powerful than before, better makeup - although it looks sweet rather than evil, and better dressed but not just not evil enough. Her lines could be so much better, so much more heartless and she should have hotter guys running after her too, but then again, if everyone gets the limelight...yeah, just what I thought. And Merlin. Merlin is just adorable. Speaks dragon like a boss. Doing magic like the biggest boss of all - eyes ablazed and all that magical jazz. You guys should have seen the scene when he was running in the woods and summoning Kilgarrah at the same time it was so incredibly sexy I thought I'd mentally die. But then again, multilingual guys are always sexy. So yeah. I kind of mentally died.

Anyway. Arthur and Guinevere finally got married (I'm so happy!) - as this version of Arthurian legend has been completely, beautifully messed up. Lancelot sort of died so I guess nobody would ever come between Arthur and Gwen like what happened in the original version, (I was so worried for the last three seasons, because if this version of Guinevere is still going to leave this particular version of Arthur for a Lancelot, then I don't wanna live on this planet anymore), Tristan and Isolde were smugglers (hell) and there's now a white dragon named Aithusa whose wings looked rather poorly designed. The producers should do something about it. Because I could have done better. No seriously. Now I'll ramble a little on my disappointments. Killing off Lancelot? Come on. He's freaking half the drama of the whole Arthurian legend! Lancelot shouldn't have died! He'd been such a wonderful friend for Merlin, the best so far, I'd even say he's a much better friend than Arthur is - knowing and keeping his cool secrets and being so kind to him at all times and everything else. He's the bravest, the most noble of all the knights of the round table, the best. And he'd already suffered enough emotional damage having the love of his life understandably falling in love with the inhumanely hot Prince (now King) Arthur. He deserved a character upgrade, people, not death! Like new gadgets and stuff. Merlin has magic and a dragon, Arthur has the Excalibur, Gwaine has the hairstyle of the century, and you know - this is Lancelot I'm talking about. If Merlin can keep growing silver hair and beard like it's nobody's business, Lancelot should have a girlfriend! He should be happy. He deserves to be. Man. And then there's a Lancelot comeback stage as a Shade with the stupid bracelet and a little making out with Gwen which drove Arthur mad enough to banish his future queen from Camelot and the series ended with Arthur still not knowing that Gwen was innocent. All these small but irritating unresolved matters just drive me crazy. Someone should tell Arthur that Gwen had always been loyal to him. He really needs to know that. And I don't hate Morgana, I just think that she should have caused more trouble if she really was planning to be the major bad guy in this show. She should also stop freaking out about Emrys. It's like she can't do a thing without Morgause. And oh, I hate Lamia. The b*tch. Glad she died a horrible death.

So, drawing the Excalibur out of the stone could be a lot better. But I was like, 'This is it. Cool as hell,' anyway. And the fighting scenes in the palace. Awesomeness. Definitely better than the last three seasons. But why Isolde had to die like that, I don't wanna know. My heart broke when she closed her eyes in Tristan's arms. It was so unnecessary but I guess things should really get out of hand when men negotiate matters using blades instead of heads. My eyes were slightly damp. It was sad. But the whole series was worth the painful wait. Everything in it. So much had happened. Good or bad. So this could be the best retelling of the legend, ever. I can only wait, breathless as I do, for another mental century for the next season, hoping that it would be great just like the previous four.

I could have rambled for another ten miles but I need to get back to work. The Northern Zone Language Week is coming in two months and I have a thespian fraternity to run, a drama team to train, books to read and a life to live. I'll be back soon to talk to you guys. I'm just sorry that I don't write so often anymore these days. But you guys know I won't stop, right? Hehe. Later then.

Rueing.

I think it was ten years ago when I first heard the saying, 'We never know what we got till it's gone.' I don't think that's the case though. I think we do know what we got. We just never thought we'd lose it.

After ten years.

I am now rereading Christopher Pike's the Last Vampire series (now called Thirst 1, 2, 3 and 4). I was 16 when I first encountered the mad magic of his professional yet youthful wordplay. I was the only one in school the kakak library would lend to more than four books at one time. I was crazy in love with Christopher Pike and I managed to finish almost every title by him in the school library. Then I left school for UiTM. Some years went by and I began to choose the people I read. I forgot about Mr Pike for a while. At one point I even thought that my teenage obsession towards his books existed because I was a teenager and I hadn't read that many authors yet. That was insolence no matter the angle you try to look at it. Reading his books literally reformed and refined my writing skills, although what most of you may have read in this blog are just average posts written in average English - believe me, I was so much worst. So yeah. Insolence indeed.

Ten years have gone. The Last Vampire now has 8 major chapters bound in four volumes. I now own all eight and have started rereading the series yesterday. My progress? 5 books in two days. Not that impressive, really - one book has at most only 200 pages. Now I'm starting book six - Creatures of Forever. The crazy thing about this whole matter is the fact that after ten years, Mr Pike still amazes me with his lovable characters, his stories and the unpredictabilities of the plots. He amazes me with everything he does. Every single thing. And if it's possible to marry a writing style, I'd marry his. Haha.

I don't know how he looks like. Wiki says he has very few interviews due to his highly private life. But I really hope to one day meet him. To personally tell him what wonderful things reading his books has done to me and how much being able to understand English means to me because I could enjoy his writings. His language is simple, but the depths of his stories go way beyond the dark of your thoughts and that's what I like best about his books. How he could make me feel deep emotions with non-complicated strings of words. Not many writers do that that well, I can say that for certain.

You'll find titles with vampires in them spilling off the shelves in bookstores. Take my advice, choose his. Read all eight of the Thirst. And try Twilight or Darren Shan after that. Because the Last Vampire began in 1994, long before the Cullens and Shan began and Sita is a 5000-year-old wonder with a beating heart. Or you can try something older from Anne Rice - the Vampire Chronicles which I read when I was 13. Because Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 and Lestat does not sparkle in the sun like a gaytard emotional undead. Pft.

I'm trying to collect Mr Pike's books now, starting with the Thirsts. They're some of the things that made my teenage years a part of my life I'd always miss. I miss the innocence that I was when I first read him. I'd do a lot of crazy things to feel like that again. Because growing up reading is something I'd very much love to relive, over and over again.

If any of you or some people you know own his books and are thinking of selling them, I'd love to be the first to know. I'd be thankful and we'd be friends. That I promise.

Now, how have all of you been in my absence?