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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Well, not really flies, but a fly ![]() ![]() So, fun fact: I'm not actually one of those squeamish people who shriek at spiders/flies/etc. Sure, if there's a male in the house, I'll gladly pass the duty on to him, but otherwise, I don't go run and hide. ![]() I did actually want to write some sort of post today about a topic, and I had one in mind earlier, but I no longer remember it. ![]() ![]() Speaking of Baby, she's still sick- and she's decided she doesn't like the "snot sucker" thingy ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Today was a chill day- the grill is closed on the weekends, so no little playmates for Baby- which is probably better since I'm still pretty wiped from yesterday. ![]() ![]() ![]() There was a garage sale of sorts in the mall today- people in the community donated items for selling, because all the profits went back to the humane society and their shelter animals. I saw a Jonas Brothers on Tour CD board game- selling for 25 cents. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yeah, so I was rather amused that they've been reduced to a re-sell value of 1/4 of a dollar. Though did they deserve that? Maybe. ![]() I'm also trying to give Baby more exercise- not just playing all the time, but short bursts of actual, active activities like racing/running around/etc. She doesn't like stretching, but she loves ballet. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This girl really is all of her older family members rolled into one body. We were playing before dinner earlier and she was saying it was silly to be doing something or another, but not as silly as "this!" and "this" happened to be her lifting up the bottom hem of her shirt so she could flash me. ![]() She gets her competitiveness from Sis, I'd reckon- all her "I want to win!"s and "Awww, I wanted to win!"s seems like something that is almost 100% from my sister. Back in high school (I think?) Mom and Sis were out for a leisurely walk probably just to get the mail or whatever, and Sis was walking faster than Mom- and she'd turn around, saying "I'm beating you!" "I'm beating you!" "I'm still beating you!" ![]() ![]() ![]() As for me, I've introduced her to the world of Hi-5. She loves Jup Jup, and it's definitely on my list to get her a Jup Jup plushie. ASAP. Because I can only imagine her reaction when she sees the character on her shirt can actually be a 3-dimensional, squishy friend. Probably a mix of ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
My level of stress right now is unbelievable. I found out yesterday morning that the Stats professor posted homework for us to be due on Friday night. It's not fun homework, and it involves lots of concepts she hasn't gotten to yet, because we're running behind schedule in her class. I just sent in her evaluation (it wasn't pretty) and under "what can the instructor do to improve?" I submitted a long rant about timeliness and having the weekend to do our work. We're students. We have other classes to take, not just hers. We're in college. College isn't cheap. So, many have outside jobs to take into consideration as well, to help pay for tuition. When she posts homework on Tuesday night for Friday night, we only get Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in between whatever classes we have to do the work. However, when she posts on Friday night for Wednesday night, we get all of Saturday, all of Sunday, and in between classes on Monday Tuesday, and Wednesday to do our work. Those extra weekend days really make a difference. I have 28 units. That's 7 classes. Not to mention research, which I'm not getting credit units for. I just finished the Stats homework. I still have to do a translation for Chinese for tomorrow (honestly I may just paraphrase what my friend sent me) and prepare for my TL interview. I have a general idea of what I plan to say/do. My head is killing me. My eyes are swimming. I'm sitting on a stool in the kitchen because I haven't showered yet so I'm working in the common area. I'm just.... done with this week. I am way too stressed for my own good, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it right now except probably go prep my interview stuff and save the translation for tomorrow morning. ![]() |
Also for "The Bard's Hall Contest" ![]() I'm just reading the last blog entry I posted and that seems like forever ago. So long, that I don't really recall writing it. I remember lying in bed and watching the ACMs and possibly writing blog posts as well, but yeah. ![]() Also, I know I always say I'm stepping away for a bit, and I never actually truly "step away"- but it's a way to let myself know that I have space to do so if needed. ![]() As for the month of May in general, it was a pretty big month for me. I went to the beach with friends. The next weekend was Mother's Day. The week after that was the Taylor Swift concert. Last weekend was the Quills and a long weekend. This weekend, I'll be madly working on a poster that I must do for my Special Ed class, that's due Thursday. That, and preparing for my Team Leader interview on Friday. And next weekend, I'll be writing a 5-page essay for my Chinese Stories class, which is due that Monday. And that Monday also marks the beginning of finals week. ![]() Going one by one, the beach day was fun. It was also Cinco de Mayo, so we went and got tacos at a place called Chronic Tacos, which was by the beach. They didn't have any promotions going on, but it was a delicious way to celebrate the holiday! ![]() ![]() Mother's Day was also a hit. I enjoyed bamboozling Mom up until that very day. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I stuck with that vegetarian story until the day of. I also alerted Uncle. When I did, Mom got suspicious. So he started talking to me in Mandarin, and talking into the phone, as though he were speaking with Grandfather. I was in the hallway of the education building trying not to die from controlling my laughter so Mom wouldn't hear me through his phone. ![]() ![]() That week was also my chosen session plan for "TL for a week" with Jumpstart. I teamed up with the guy on our team, and we led the session for The Ugly Vegetables. I got to teach the kids a little bit about calligraphy, and one of my partner children even learned how to write the word "big" in Chinese! ![]() I led the Tuesday session, and it went quite well! The first half- hellos and reading- was great, and even though I was nervous about how my presentation would go during circle time, the kids were all unusually quiet. ![]() ![]() I didn't lead on Thursday- that was my partner's time, but he did well, too. And I taught one of the girls in the class how to say "bitter melon" in Chinese. And she did it- perfectly! ![]() ![]() Taylor Swift Concert- ah-mazing experience. I'm still super bummed out that I didn't get chosen to go backstage and meet her, but I mean, it's been 2 weeks now, so I really should chill. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yeah, there was a fair of sorts outside- two radio stations were there, giving out prizes and playing games and such. I won a Popsocket for Mom, after getting chosen for one of the games. I'm honestly not sure why Mom didn't want to check out the fair ahead of time, but ![]() As for the actual concert, it was amazing! There were 3 stages, and she ziplined (in a sense) from the main stage to Stage B, and then from B to C. Everyone from my section rushed over to Stage C when she was "flying" in her throne from B to C, so I joined them, which meant I was about 6 people/rows away from the stage. ![]() I also grabbed a stack of confetti after the show ended, so that I could give some to my partner kid who loves the "Havana" song. ![]() Long Weekend- Mostly I did homework and chatted with CG and Mom. I didn't necessarily "chat" with Mom, but she sends pictures and videos of my child (cousin) in TX, and I get distracted "ooh"ing and "aah"ing over whatever Baby does. And for those who ask why I don't have my own kid (*coughs* You know who you are. ![]() ![]() ![]() As for today... I crashed my friend's dorm reunion. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Sooo yeah, that's been my month. I'll probably disappear this weekend, since I have that poster due. And the paper. And a Jumpstart interview. Which also means I should get off to bed- hopefully I'll be back during finals week, and if not, I'll definitely be back afterwards. In the meanwhile, if you've got a small group, I still have room for 2 more groups in "Invalid Item" ![]() ![]() |
Songs you hate. Tell us about one or more songs that you would be perfectly content to never hear again in your life, ever. Eugh, last week was all sorts of crazy. ![]() ![]() As for the prompt.... Well. I'll go broader than one song- I'm more about the artists. Usually I like one song from someone and I'll like about 90% of all their other songs. The reverse is also true. ![]() ![]() With that said... I cannot stand Lana del Ray. I don't like the way she sings. I don't like her lyrics. I don't like her, end of story. It always sounds like she's trying to seduce someone when she's singing. And honestly, it sounds anything but seductive. I wouldn't be surprised if she's on drugs. ![]() ![]() ![]() Anyways, fast-forward to this past summer when I went to visit sis on the east coast to help her move back from DC to NY, and she put on Lana del Ray. I cringed. A lot. And made all sorts of remarks about how she sounded like she was under the influence of something. And she wouldn't change the music until I specifically requested her to do so. ![]() Adding on to that... there's one genre of music I'm not sure I'll ever understand: rap. I feel like it's always about getting the girl, going to bed with them, and then making rhymes about their conquests. ![]() ![]() |
Adaptations! You're still the head of a major studio, so what piece of material (can be anything except another movie: a book, comic, TV show, toy, news article, real life true story, etc.) would you choose to have adapted into a feature motion picture? Also, which movie do you think was the absolute best adaptation of the source material (best can be either most faithful or most improved, your choice)? Hehe I just finished playing Gems, so I'm gonna say Gems. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As for the best adaptation of source material, I'm gonna go on a limb and say Mary Poppins. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Congratulations, you're now the head of a major motion picture studio! You have the final say over what films get made and how much money is spent on them! With your newfound authority, you can remake or reboot any film from the past. Which will you choose and why? And, more importantly, how big a movie would you make? Would you want to do a big budget remake of a cult classic? A Star Wars movie with a small indie feel? A complete reboot of the Transformers franchise? A future-set sci-fi adaptation of Titanic? This is your chance to overhaul a movie of your choice from the past... tell us a little about what that project is and how you see the new version turning out! Mwa haha.... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() With that said.... I'd love to incorporate plushies, of course. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Just for the sake of it, let's remake Cinderella. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Naturally, the evil stepmom tells him off for being late once he returns from the market with the goods she requested, and she spots the flyer, laughs in his face about the "fat chance" he'll have of winning such a competition with the "little to no skill" he possesses in "pretty much everything". Turns out, Cinderboy's got a vindictive streak inside him and he sets out to prove her wrong. So he starts teaching himself tricks and flips and such- and since he works so much, muscle development isn't an issue. Getting enough food, on the other hand, is. So he starts sneaking out at night into the kitchen to steal food- and in the morning tries to gaslight everyone into thinking the food never was there in the first place. ![]() Annnd it's almost 11 pm and I do have class tomorrow, so the happy ending here is, he manages (somehow) to sneak out of the house (attic window, maybe?) and make it to the dance comptetition, where he not only wins a hoverboard, but meets the girl of his dreams, which is where Cinderboy 1 will end, and Cinderboy 2 will begin. ![]() ![]() |
Prompt - Day 11: It's Oscar time! You get to put together your all-time best Oscar ballot! Movies don't necessarily have to have been nominated for an Oscar or even be an awards-type film (if you truly think the Best (Quality) Picture you've ever seen is Caddyshack, or that Ryan Reynolds' turn as Deadpool will never be surpassed by the performance of another actor, that's totally okay as long as you honestly believe your selection is the pinnacle of achievement in that particular field. Not your favorite, not your guilty pleasure, not the one you'd like to win... your honest-to-God pick for the best representation of each category. Think of this like Fantasy Football for movies! BONUS: While you only have to complete the "Big Six" categories, I will give a special prize to anyone who completes a full Oscar ballot and also lists films for ALL the bonus categories as well! BIG SIX CATEGORIES (REQUIRED) Best Picture- Twilight Best Director Brad Peyton (San Andreas) Best Actor in a Leading Role The Rock/Dwayne Johnson (The Game Plan) Best Actress in a Leading Role- Storm Reid (Meg, A Wrinkle in Time) Best Actor in a Supporting Role- Owen Vaccaro (Dylan, Daddy's Home/Daddy's Home 2) Best Actress in a Supporting Role- Eva Green (Miss Peregrine, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) BONUS CATEGORIES (OPTIONAL) Best Animated Feature- The Emoji Movie/Inside Out Best Cinematography- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Best Costume Design- A Wrinkle in Time Best Documentary Feature- Teach Us All Best Film Editing- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Best Foreign Language Film- Together Best Makeup and Hairstyling A Wrinkle in Time Best Original Score- Mary Poppins Best Original Song- Step in Time (Mary Poppins) Best Production Design- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Best Sound Editing- Despicable Me Best Sound Mixing- Mary Poppins Best Visual Effects- A Wrinkle in Time Best Adapted Screenplay- Paddington Bear Best Original Screenplay- Road Less Traveled Okay. It's 9 pm Friday night and I'm exhausted. Today wasn't necessarily a difficult day, I think my body is just tired in general from silks yesterday and getting used to one less hour of sleep this quarter than the last two quarters. ![]() Essentially, what I'm saying here is, I tried to do all the categories, but hey, Jeff ![]() ![]() ![]() With that said, between my yawning, I'll attempt to explain my choices here. ![]() Best Picture- Twilight. I really liked the set of the movie. This is one I'd definitely like to go see if they ever did one of those tour things where you get to visit where they filmed and such. The trees, forest, and such were all super pretty. And at one point when Twilight had first come out, I believe we were in Vancouver and we saw this place by a hospital that was all sectioned off, and I wondered if they were filming the next movie. I never did find out. ![]() Best Director- Brad Peyton, for San Andreas. That was a good movie. Full of action, suspense, drama, the works. I thought he did a good job with it? ![]() Actor- The Rock, Game Plan. I love The Rock! He's awesome- he seems super down-to-earth, and I like that he's in movies for all ages- young kids, teens, and adults. I feel like his versatility makes him better at what he does. Not to mention, he's got the perfect build for his character. ![]() Actress- Storm Reid, from A Wrinkle in Time. I saw the movie with Mom for my birthday, and I've got to say, I was definitely impressed. I think the general saturation of the ballot with this movie has proved my point. ![]() ![]() Edited the next day: I wish I could explain them all more, BUT my page just refreshed (I'm not using Chrome right now because of my computer problems) and this is what I had saved before calling my uncle about the computer problems. I had about 2x of this written but it wasn't saved. ![]() ![]() Supporting Actress- Eva Green, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I remember being very skeptical of the movie at first. It looks dark, creepy, and kinda scary. Not to mention, it may as well be set in a haunted house, upon first sight. ![]() ![]() ![]() Supporting Actor: Owen Vaccaro- I feel like all he really needed to do in the movie was memorize a few lines, and act cute and innocent. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Best Animation: I'm honestly torn between The Emoji Movie and Inside Out. They're both great movies, in different ways. I liked both movies from the perspective of a pre-service, early education teacher. Inside Out teaches kids it's okay to feel more than one thing. Not just that, but it identifies four main emotions- Joy, Sadness, Anger, and Disgust. Okay, I'm not totally convinced that "Disgust" is really a core emotion, but hey, every theorist has their own theory, right? ![]() ![]() Anyways, Inside Out teaches you that not only is it okay to feel more than one emotion, but it's okay to express the emotions- in a healthy, productive way, of course. While yes, when you're young, you throw tantrums when you're angry and giggle gleefully when you're joyful, that's not how people behave when they're grown up- and the "adult" emotions in the Mom and Dad's brains showed that when they were having arguments. As for The Emoji Movie, there was a similar message, but I feel like the underlying message was also "it's okay to be more than one thing," not necessarily to feel more than one emotion. And that's important too. We learned about intersectionality in my media class last quarter, and discussed how there are so many different aspects to people than just what you see. People are allowed to identify as more than one thing- you can be female and a computer scientist. Or male and a painter, and both of those individuals could still add more layers (or intersections) to their identity. Mother, father, relative, CEO, etc. So for kids, in a way, I guess it encourages them to explore different interests. Which is good, because the more they're exposed to, the better! Best Cinematography/Film Editing/Production Design: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Okay, so I don't watch many movies. ![]() ![]() Getting to the actual reasoning, though, I felt like this movie is one of those that'll stick with me for a while. I was writing out my reasoning for Eva Green earlier and as I was explaining the feelings I had regarding the movie before watching it, all those preconceptions came back. And I could feel the squeamishness coming back all over again, too. Maybe it's because it's been a while since the movie came out and I've forgotten some of the details. But I do still remember a few specific scenes in the movie- and through that the fear and apprehensiveness was all coming back. I think that's what can make a movie good. If it can still make you feel the same way it did before you watched it, that's pretty good, in my opinion, because if you're no longer as scared or excited or whatever you felt beforehand, I guess that movie didn't quite live up to the expectation? Best Costume/Makeup+Hair/Visual Effects: A Wrinkle in Time. Well, those costumes... just wow. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Documentary Feature- Teach Us All- I watched this for Jumpstart, on Netflix. And it was pretty powerful, if you ask me. It covers segregation- not just in history, but in today's world as well, and it points out some pretty big issues that make you go "Why isn't this solved yet?" ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Foreign Language Film- Together- This is a Chinese film, also known as Together With You- we watched it in Chinese class, I remember, in high school, when our original Chinese teacher was still around (she moved to Utah). This is a total opposite of the documentary film- it's a heartwarming, maybe tear-jerking drama about family and how far a father's love will extend for his son. It was definitely well-made, well-written, and well-performed, considering I can still remember it after all these years. ![]() Best Original Score/Song/Sound Mixing: Mary Poppins. Ironically we were in the car on Thursday after dinner after silks (with my friends from research) and the guys (imagine that!) requested the Disney playlist on Spotify. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" happened to come on, and that was the one song they couldn't quite identify, that I could, pretty much right away. ![]() ![]() I'm not a big Disney fan, actually. At least, compared to most people. Sure, I'll watch the movies and such, and I enjoy going to Disneyland, but I'm definitely not the type who gaggles over everything Disney- unless it's Winnie the Pooh. I'd say I definitely prefer the less princessy stuff and more old-school, classic stuff, minus Mickey Mouse and his gang. ![]() With that said, I chose "Step in Time" for best song, because it's super catchy. ![]() Upon Googling, I learned the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, and given the massive amount of people in Mary Poppins (all the chimney sweeps, the "Mistress" and "Master," and Dick Van Dyke ![]() ![]() Adapted Screenplay- Paddington Bear. Granted, I've never been to England or anything, but I thought this was a super cute story of how the bear came to be. I liked that he had a history, and his family, who lived in some place far away in Darkest Peru, ended up sending him on a ship with just marmalade to eat, until he somehow ended up in England. ![]() ![]() Original Screenplay- Road Less Traveled. I originally only heard the song... I think it was a Spotify radio thing, or somewhere on Youtube. Or could've been an awards ceremony, I guess. Really, I guess it could've been anything. ![]() ![]() Annd hooray, I'm done! ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Only 33 films in film history have managed to surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Of those films (listed below for your reference), which one(s) do you think is/are the most overrated/undeserving of being on this list? Which movie do you think should be on this list but isn't? Tell us why! BILLION DOLLAR+ BOX OFFICE ▼ Okay, I probably haven't even watched half of these movies. I've watched: two Star Wars movies that I know of, but I have no clue which ones they were. ![]() ![]() I'm quite surprised Toy Story 3 made it onto the list. Somehow I'm not surprised about Frozen, but at the same time, I'm surprised Moana didn't make it. The hype was huge for it! I'm also pretty surprised about Zootopia, actually. It didn't seem like that big of a movie. ![]() Something I've noticed about this list- it's either kids' animations or fantasy/adventure movies. Why aren't there any comedies on the list? ![]() ![]() With that said, I do wish Baywatch was on that list. ![]() ![]() ![]() Another one I would've liked to see on the list is Big Hero 6. That one had action! And it's cute. I love Baymax. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Guilty Pleasure Day! What movie is your greatest guilty pleasure? The movie you know is terrible, but can't help watching every time you channel surf and happen across it? The movie you're almost afraid to admit you like, and yet find yourself popping in the DVD player or streaming a few times a year anyway? Confess your guilty pleasure and tell us what you like about it! Hmmmm, we hardly use our DVD player anymore. And with that said, I'm not one to spend my time re-watching movies I've already watched. I... don't see the point, I guess? I mean, sure, if it's a really, really good movie, go for it, but I'd rather use that time and watch something else I haven't watched before. Thinking about it more, though, I suppose one movie I would watch more than once (and probably have, at this point) is The Winnie the Pooh movie from 2011. I won the DVD from a site I used to play on, called Miss O and Friends. They would have these weekly and monthly raffles, and you could earn 1 ticket for every 10 points you earned during week to put into any drawing you wanted. I've gotten quite lucky 3 times, actually- the Pooh movie was the last time I went all-out for something. There was a game on there called Harlie's Hazardous City 2, which I would play nonstop for a long, long time- one of those action games where you use the up/down/left/right keys on the keyboard to help the character navigate a busy sidewalk and get to school on time. I rocked the game- and sometimes I would play for 30-45 minutes nonstop- and then I'd rank in the top 20 point-earners for the day, across the whole site. ![]() ![]() ![]() Honestly, I probably shouldn't be proud, considering Sis and I read those books in, what, elementary school? and the Pooh movie came out in 2011. ![]() ![]() The other two prizes I won were a Tinkerbell DS game and a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus CD. ![]() ![]() Ummmm... yeah. ![]() ![]() [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
Movie franchises are movie series that are connected by a common character, setting, or other overarching piece of material. They can be open-ended (James Bond, Fast and Furious) or finite (Harry Potter, Hunger Games), centered around a shared universe of content (Star Wars, Marvel Cinematic Universe), or continuations/re-packaging of a popular initial film (Despicable Me, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission: Impossible, Toy Story, Transformers). For today's prompt, tell us what your favorite movie franchise is, as well as your favorite and least favorite movies in that franchise. Just a disclaimer from here on out for the week- I don't watch as many movies as I do TV Shows, so this could be interesting. ![]() As for the movie franchises, though, I'm pretty surprised in the sense that I've seen most of the ones listed- James Bond, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Despicable Me, Mission: Impossible, Toy Story. ![]() My favorite? Probably Despicable Me. I love the minions and Agnes. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As for me, I don't know if I can pick a favorite/least favorite from the series, considering there's only been 3 movies. I did really like the most recent one though. I don't typically watch movies repeatedly once I've watched it, but I think this one would definitely be one I would rewatch. I liked that it was kinda like a prequel to the whole series, even if it was movie #3. We learned how the minions came to be, and who they previously served. Though, I do think they're much too cute to be used for evil purposes. ![]() And if we're going with that, I suppose the first Despicable Me would be my least favorite. Which is ironic since it that's the one that usually determines whether or not there will be a franchise... I liked #2 better than #1 because of the soundtrack. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |