Les Miserables

If you have not seen this movie yet than something is wrong with you.

No serious, you need to take a looooong hard look inside you and ask "why have I put off watching this movie?"

There are no good reasons....

Then you need to cry a little because you haven't seen it yet and you've denied yourself of the viewing and listening experience of the decade.

If you have seen it- hats off to you- there is nothing wrong with you.

Last night I watched Les Miserables with my family for the second time, and I love it even more now- I defiantly consider it a masterpiece.

I also love the music and think it truly was written for the human soul.

So if you haven't seen it yet- get off your bum, rent it, and watch it with someone you love!

There she goes.....

That's right world! We have officially moved out of our first place....not that you care...


Here's my little story ...


So I wasn't completely fond of our old place to be honest, but after it was all cleaned out and I hate to leave it for the last time probably ever....I couldn't help but think about the last 2.5 years of memories we've made there, our first place.

As I longingly took my last look, I couldn't help but feel a little sad....but I didn't cry mind you.

When I got in the car to leave for good I started the radio, and the chorus lyrics of this song made it seem as though my old apartment was saying goodbye

It's a weird media story, but I'm sure we all have song that are associated with memories.....boyfriends, break-ups, summer road trips, weddings...rebellious periods, spiritual experiences, youth dances......songs can be such an influential part of our lives, I have like a million songs that bring memories to the surface.

Fakebook?

Facebook and I have a love-hate relationship. On one hand, I love that I can see updates from my friends, see engagement, wedding, baby photos.....and I especially love our family groups, where we can post things just to our family members. It's great.

But here comes the hate part...

I means I can sit home all day if I want, and feel like I'm connecting with people, when in reality I am not. I'm one of those people who can count her friends on one hand (sadly)....and even those friends I don't reach out to in other ways because "I can't just use Facebook ....no phone calls, no texts....what is wrong with me? But it's not just me, everyone does it to some degree.

I also hate that Facebook is sort of an individual advertisement page (especially for singles) and I get sick of people posting picture after picture of themselves in the mirror.

Gag me with a spoon already!

And that you can post anything you want- make yourself whoever you want....but it's never reality.

My Facebook page may brush the surface of who I am, but you can't really get to know someone through Facebook. Nothing will ever beat human interaction.....

As a counter to that argument you could say that you could get to know someone better online because perhaps they are more open then they would be in person....

My come-back to that is, THEN you're not really getting to know that person- just who they portray online.....isn't the point of being someone's friend is being able to talk and be with that person in real life?

When I was a kid I had a pen-pal, remember those? And I actually got to meet her in person, and when I did it was REALLY awkward....I had thought we would hit it off right away....but we didn't and we sort of don't talk anymore. It was weird.

My whole point here- is stop feeling like you have 500+ friends, because the fact is

YOU DON'T!

Which is exactly why we should reach out in our communities, to our neighbors and people that are actually around us and make friends!

Ghost

My husband and I watched this movie the other night- and honestly I didn't think I'd like it....but man was I wrong. Let's just say there WERE tears. It was such an intriguing story, and I LOVED Whoopi Goldberg in it! She was hilarious. She even won an Oscar for this movie.. The movie itself won an Oscar for best screenplay. I think this is a must see love story.

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

Miss Representation

After watching Miss Representation ( you seriously need to watch this movie) I had so many different thoughts jumping around in my brain- so I'm going to try to write some of them out here and let me know what you think? 

First off- I need to get something off my chest.....

Here it goes.

I am a feminist- and I don't understand why in the Mormon culture we are so afraid of this word......

feminist, feminist, feminist, feminist feminist feminist, FEMINIST, FEMINIST, FEMINIST!!!!

See, it's not so scary. 

I think in in Mormon Culture we have a BIG misrepresentation of what this word means..

What is a feminist anyway? Well, according to good old Wiki,  "Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment."

So being a feminist DOES NOT mean that I think that women are BETTER than men- it means I think men and women are EQUAL, and that they should have equal rights, equal pay, equal, equal, equal!

Sure, we have biological and physical differences...but we are still equal. My adopted brother has a different colored skin than me, and I'm sure you'd all agree with me that we are equals. Right? And you probably agree that women should be able to vote and have equal pay and stuff right? So what's the problem with being a feminist?

So really- you may not have thought you were a feminist, but the fact is you probably are. And you don't have to be a girl to be a feminist- boys can be feminist too. 

Now, why do I feel like this is important for me to point out???? Because the fact of the matter is, many women (especially in the church) aren't feminist.....I've known MANY that do "secretly" or not-so-secretly believe that men are better than women, and this is manifested in ssooOOOooo many ways in the world we live in, and also our religious culture...I'll let you fill in the blank. But all of these inequalities destruct a woman's sense of worse into a very simple paradigm making her think that her worth is in the way she looks, or the fact that she was born a woman, that's that. 

Do you want to know the secret have a good body image and self esteem????

Truly believing you are an equal, and just being yourself.....so BE a feminist for goodness sake!

We are ALL equal- I firmly believe this- but I still struggle in my brain everyday to apply it to myself. 

I think that if we all TRULY believed that we are all equal, we would have ZERO self-esteem or body image issues. 

That's my goal at least...to apply this fact to myself.

With the media's sea of lies we swim in everyday, as women (and men) but women especially- we need to arm ourselves every morning when we wake up- remind ourselves that we are important, we are special, we are beautiful TODAY. We need to stop wishing on tomorrow for that perfect self we have in mind, that's a size x,y, or z, and has that perfect hair and olive tone..... and we need to STOP LYING to ourselves that becoming that perfect shape or size will make us happy- because guess what- it won't. So just STOP IT!

As a disclaimer, this does NOT mean that we shouldn't try to be a healthy weight, or just eat chocolate all day everyday (like my natural woman I know would like me too).....but it does mean that we need to re-prioritize our lives, and really think about what is the MOST important thing about life. 

"What is the most important-thing-for-you-to-focus-on-for-your-entire-existence-on-this-planet????"

I never thought you'd ask....

The answer is simple.

Love. 

Yep, the Beatles had it right all along. Love is what life is all about. Love for family, friends, life, nature, hobbies, learning, laughter, cats - whatever floats your boat. But before you can love anything else, you have to love yourself.

So that's all I have for today..."and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

(5 million points for whoever can name that movie)

Here is the trailer for the movie we watched in class- I HIGHLY recommend watching this movie- it's well worth your time. 

Miss Representation 

Just for kicks and giggles....

Happy almost St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I know I've said this before- but one of my favorite ways to use media is for a good laugh. The internet is a great way to share a smile.

Here's a video I stumbled across that made me so happy inside. (I sort of not-so-secretly wish I had a pet penguin)

And here is another.

Well, anyways, hope you all have a great weekend, and share some smiles with others!

Web Log====> Blog

Did you know that the reason this thing you are reading is called a blog is because it was originally named a Web Log....then it shorted to Blog?

Learn something new every day.

You know- the internet- it's so great because you know why?

If you have a question you can just ask it....or if you want to laugh...you can can look up jokes in picture form.

Here are some of my favorites

 so...what do you think? hmmmmm???????????

Do you like internet jokes?

I sure do...I think they are very magical part of the internet world- and they make me laugh everyday pretty much...


And you know what they say...

"Laughter is the best medicine, for everything.....except abdominal surgery....it just hurts"

Something to sink your teeth into.....

Ok, prepare yourselves, here comes another confession....

This week I watched the whole first season of Vampire diaries....that's like 22 episodes in 5 days. I wasn't expecting that to happen...in fact before this week I hated the whole vampire love story...stupidity to me....

So I've been thinking about it and I think my little "massed practice" of TV watching happened for 3 reasons. 

#1. Midterms were last week, and I did school ALL day EVERY day for like 10 days straight..it was insane....I had 5 tests in 5 days and 2 projects and a presentation due then too. In other words I think I was feeling some serious chill time withdraws.

#2. I had nothing due the week after midterms, and didn't feel like doing work ahead of time.

#3. The Vampire Diaries was the show I had to watch to code for my media research project, so I got hooked then.

ok....maybe it's 4 reasons...

#4. The Vampire Diaries is like 100x better than Twilight- and I think it fascinated me that the whole Vampire idea could actually work. (I really hate the Twilight series....the acting is terrible and so is the plot...I've watched them so I can make fun of them-period.....sorry if you really like the Twilight series...no actually I'm not.)

ALSO- Stephanie Meyer TOTALLY ripped L.J. Smith's idea from him- the Vampire Diaries was originally a book series written by L.J. Smith published in 1991. Stephanie Meyer's Twilight was originally published in 2005....seriously Stephanie Meyers? I don't even know the right word I want to call you right now....

There are so many elements of Twilight that are similar to Vampire Diaries, but the later is 100x better....like I said before....now, I haven't read the either book series, my judgements are just coming from the movies and TV series....

boy vampire...girl not vampire....both fall in love in high school setting...she puts together that he is a vampire after seeing all the amazing things he can do....other boy that loves non-vampire girl.....

sounding familiar?

they're basically the same idea....only one is better than the other- as in the idea that came first is better.

Well...there I said it.... 

I feel much better now. 

Footloose

Here is a movie that I honestly didn't think that I would like....yet I gave it a chance, and I found myself really enjoying the film! It was even better than the original in my opinion- and the dancing is pretty awesome.

I think I enjoyed it mostly because Dennis Quad reminds me of my own dad, and Kenny Wormald did a fantastic Ren MacCormack! And I love the Boston accent- reminded me of my past love, Newsies, which if you haven't seen that- you are not an American. Period.

All in all I think Footloose had some really good themes in it- about control, doing the right thing, finding yourself, and living life to it's fullest.

I also loved the angry dance....here is the original one with Kevin Bacon 1984

Here is the 2011 version with Kenny Wormald

And here is a parody of the two by Flight of the Concords- golly I love them.

So....Have you seen this movie? What were your thoughts

Financial Tips at your Finger Tips

Being a college student on a tight budget, the internet can be a great way to get some financial tips on saving money! Like this Cool Article!

There are so many resources online to help people....

• DIY blogs for crafts
• webMD for your ailments
• Google for dumb questions
• YouTube for how to videos
• and so much more!

With such a great wealth of knowledge at our finger times- we would be stupid if we didn't use it. For the first time in human history, I (the consumer) can look up how to cut a man's hair- or what disease is ailing my cat. Being human is awesome, isn't it?

Pros, Cons anyone?