I like my fairy tales dark and cynical and my humor somewhat wacky (and preferably sarcastic), so its no surprise that I fangirl Alice in Wonderland in any dark form whatsoever.

Alice, dear Alice, how I obsess over your Wonderland. That place was the inspiration of my college essays, the substance of many projects, and one fairytale that really isn’t a fairytale. For years now I’ve been anticipating a film version of American Mcgee’s Alice, though that never bore fruit. The premise of the video game is simple(y brilliant):

Seven years or so after the original Wonderland, a fire breaks out in Alice’s home and kills her entire family. Not quite in her right mind, she is tucked away into the Rutledge Asylum, where at some point the White Rabbit shows up and escorts her back to Wonderland once more. Only Wonderland is a very different place now, disintegrated along with Alice’s mind.

So now what with Tim Burton’s version (2010) actually under production, I’ve become a very happy camper indeed. And we all know Mr. Burton likes his stories just as dark as I do.

Mia Wasikowska stars as Alice with Johnny Depp cast as the Mad Hatter. Doesn't he look like he's on hookah? Costumes are amazing - the lady wears a tie!

Just one thing: could you please send your costume designer my way? (And I wouldn’t mind if Mr. Depp tagged along too.)

On another note, I’ve been so sorely busy with school and end-of-the-year projects that I hardly have time to sleep. I just finished my Lit&Film short film though, so I’ll post that soon.

So, new gorgeous movie of the moment. Even cholera can’t dull the beauty of the scenery. Granted, for a lot of the scenery shots I kept think how weirdly shaped all the mountains are. Nevertheless, they’re extraordinary. Naomi Watts and early 20th century period pieces mesh best.

Gorgeous, touching movie.

Now I want to go to China Superbad. (Enough to use that title.) Hopefully, plans will actually precipitate this year–they are in the making, though rather vague and not quite as discussed as they should be (and I would like). Mostly, though, I want to do the whole tourist thing that I’ve never gotten to to before, even though I was born in China and go back to visit relatives every five years.

Yes, you read that right: every five years. Let me repeat that: Visit relatives.

This is super unfortunate, because the only thing I ever did was go the the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing. And let me tell you, traveling with my dad is not exactly the most relaxing or fun of trips. This year, between high school and college, I will hopefully be spending about a month (or 4 weeks) traveling with my best friend.

This is what in the itinerary if we’re lucky: Shanghai, Guilin , Tianya Haijiao @ Hai Nandao, Zhang Jiajie, Beijing. So yeah, lots of scenary.

It’s a bit late, but so was our Oscar Party in Lit & Film. Basically, the class dressed up and mocked-accepted awards for the winners of various genres. It was rushed, so we didn’t even get to have an Elton John-esq party. Also, my mini-camera ran out of batteries within the first few minutes, so all I got was this video:

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the dress I wore for all of half an hour (it was an old one); I liked my normal outfit better anyway.

Winter in California means you just have to add leg covering to your shorts.

Otherwise, Hugh Jackman was the best thing about the real Oscars, which were quite entertaining this year. Yay for Australian humor – a few of my friends are insanely into The Chaser’s War on Everything right now.