Bibliophilia; Red Death at White Mischief; High School Musical 3 is SHOCKINGLY GOOD.
1. Got up at ungodly hour this morning to go on a tour of the London Library, which only opens to non-members on the last saturday of every month at 11am. It was totally worth it, though. If I were a very rich person I would definitely join and wallow in bibliophiliac bliss. It is like Google for aristocratic intellectuals with too much time on their hands.

2. Spent like a million years shopping for White Mischief costume stuff today. As per usual, I ended up despairing and just buying something so I could go home and rest. Ugh, shopping. So I have a sort of shiny red coat and red mask, which I think is a little ordinary-looking for WM, but whatever. I cannot face more shopping and also, have no money left.

3. I freely admit that although I inexplicably like them, High School Musicals 1 and 2 are terrible and sort of boring. They are sacharine and 90% of the songs are shit. So imagine my surprise when HSM3 turned out to be TOALLY FUCKING AWESOME. I saw it with Jackie and Michael, and although it was filled with so-cheesy-it's-funny lines and ridiculous "plot" twists, it was shockingly... good.

Apart from the unavoidably sucky ballads, every song was a dynamite pop track, and the choreography was AWESOME. Every time another big dance number came up I was like, "Oh, they can never top that", BUT THEY DID EVERY TIME. In the first two HSM movies they only had the budget for like one good dance sequence, but they really made the most of the big screen and kicked dancing ass. Ryan and Sharpay's insane dream-sequence thing? AWESOME. Troy and Chad leaping around the junk yard? AWESOME. The fake-prom scene? SURPRISINGLY AWESOME.

They somehow managed to inject a little believability into crappy Zac Efron (I liked the realistically tearful whine in his voice when Gabriella left), and despite retaining the Disney wholesomeness of the prequels it had a genuine atmosphere of teen angst. Best of all, they didn't go the predictable route of having Troy get the coveted place at stage school, instead letting it go to the people who actually deserved it. Michael and I agree that it would be a 100% brilliant idea to have a TV show all about Ryan and Kelsi and Juilliard, being BFFs and writing hit musicals together. Also note: Ryan is ten thousand times gayer in this one than in the first two, where he had a relatively minor role. And what sweet costumes! Whenever he came onscreen were were cracking up because every single time he would outdo himself in the insane outfit stakes. Pink leather trousers with matching hat! Kneeboots and pink tartan trousers! Random shorts! OMG!