Movie Review: A Warrior's Heart

Xenon Pictures
In theaters: December 2nd, 2011 (limited)
On DVD: February 7th, 2012
Rated PG
Directed by Michael F. Sears
Written by Martin Dugard
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

After his father's death, high school lacrosse star Conor Sullivan becomes self-destructive but through a new love interest and his passion for this sport, Conor discovers the warrior within himself. -- (C) Official Site

Review:

I honestly only wanted to see this being Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz were in it.  I don't really like sports movies, although I thought it was cool that it was about lacrosse as that isn't a sport you usually see movies about.  The movie was okay and held my interest.  I definitely didn't hate it, but I wasn't really into it either.  I was just kind of neutral about it.

One thing I thought was cool was how they incorporated the Native American history of the game into the story.  Conor makes some derogatory comments about Native Americans at one point in the movie though.  He says it to his father's friend, who is Native American, and he's basically put in his place later.  I get that Conor was supposed to be really angry and dealing with a lot of emotional issues at that point in the movie, but the whole thing still kind of bothered me.  Yes, Conor's mad, but does he really have to become racist out of basically no where.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm overreacting, but I didn't like that.

Overall, it was an okay movie but not all that great.  It was just kind of a stereotypical movie.  Nothing surprising happens.

One More Month of 2012

I can't believe that today's the last day of November.  This year has flown by.  In just another month it'll be 2013.  I guess it makes sense that this year went so quickly for me considering I graduated high school and started college.  It was an eventful year.  I shouldn't be reminiscing yet though.  We still have another month.

I only had one class today: precalculus.  We also got our final assignment for the class.  I managed to get two problems done earlier, but I think that's all I'm doing of it today.  (They were long problems...)  I also managed to work on my English portfolio for a while earlier, so I think I'm done with homework for today.  I paused an episode of Little House on the Prairie to write this post, but I don't really have that much to write about.  I thought I could make a post a bit longer than this, but I think I'm going to have to end it here.  Today really hasn't been too eventful, and I don't really plan to do anything other than watch Little House and maybe a movie or something later.  The same way I spend most Friday nights.

Finals Are Almost Here

My life has basically been revolving around the fact that finals are the week after next.  It's reached the point where I don't really have any work in my classes except to study.  The only exception is that I have four papers to write for my English portfolio (I actually have them partially written at this point, so it's not four whole papers.), but that portfolio is my final.

I gave my final speech on Tuesday, so I'm basically done with that class.  I still have to go in order to watch the others give their speeches though, so that was my first class today.  One of the guys gave his speech on the electoral college just like I did.  I had actually had to cut stuff for time (if you don't remember my whole thing about not being able to get in the time limit), and he ended up making all of the arguments that I hadn't been able to fit in my speech, so that was kind of neat.

Theology was the same as always.  The only difference was that we had to fill out the professor evaluations.  He talked about heaven, hell, and the end of the world, which should have been an interesting topic, but I paid even less attention than normal.  I seriously try to hard to pay attention in that class, and it's extremely difficult.  I'm not looking forward to that final.

After classes, I went to go eat lunch in the dining hall for the first time in days and ran into Claire.  I hadn't talked to her (or her sister Jill for that matter) in a while, so it was nice eating lunch with her and talking a bit.

For the past half an hour or so I've been reading, but I think as soon as I get another chapter read I'm going to work on that English portfolio.  I can't wait to be done with it and finals.  Just two more weeks!

Movie Review: Life in a Day

National Geographic Entertainment
In theaters: July 24th, 2011 (limited)
On DVD: November 8th, 2011
Rated PG-13
Directed by Kevin Macdonald
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

The 24th July 2010.... 80,000 Lives.... 4,500 Hours of Footage... 2 Award winning Filmmakers..... Now one incredible motion picture event. What began life as a startling cinematic experiment becomes the must see movie experience of the Summer. Created entirely from footage uploaded by YouTube users, Life in a Day is a film first: exhilarating, moving and very, very funny... it is the story of our world. Told by us. -- (C) National Geographic

Review:

I first heard about this documentary when they were asking people to upload videos of their life on July 24th, 2010.  I'd planned to post something as well, but I didn't actually go through with it, as I figured others would have much more interesting days than me.  And I was more or less right about that.

I really enjoyed this documentary.  There are clips of people from all over the world, and you see so many different cultures.  Some people seem to have good days and some have bad days.  Some of the clips weren't quite as interesting as other, I thought, but overall I really enjoyed it.  A few times I even wanted to cry over certain things.  I few of the clips made me look away.  There were a couple of clips that involved birth (both human and animal), and there was a clip of a cow being slaughtered that really freaked me out even though I turned away from it.  (I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but blood freaks me out so much and it was so loud and everything.  That was probably the worst clip for me.)

I love the whole idea of this documentary.  All of the footage was shot by normal people all across the world, and it's so fascinating to watch this documentary and know that all of this happened to these people on the exact same day.  Some of it's heart-warming and some of it's heart-wrenching.  It was an amazing documentary though.  I'm really glad I watched it.

Final Speech and Dining Hall Food

It's only the second day of classes, and I'm exhausted.  I have no idea why.  I just felt about ready to collapse by the time I got done with classes today.  That doesn't mean it was a bad day though.  I'm just tired.

As I said yesterday, we began giving our final speeches in speech class today.  I hadn't been able to get my speech down to the time limit, so I was really hoping I wouldn't have to go today.  Well after there were no volunteers, my speech teacher asked me to go first.  So much for that.  I managed to only go about 20 seconds over the time limit though, which is about five minutes shorter than I was while practicing, and I got an A on the speech.  So I guess things worked out more than okay, and now I don't have to worry about that anymore.  I'm essentially done with that class except having to go watch everyone else give their own speeches.

The only other class I had today was theology, which is typically my most boring class.  The professor just lectures us the whole time, and it's probably the least interactive of my classes.  Most days I have trouble even staying awake.  Today was no different.  The professor talked about prayer and sacraments, and I feel as if most of it is stuff I've heard before.  That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be able to remember it for the final, but it's hard to concentrate when you've heard the same thing in every religion class that you've had your whole life.

I ate lunch in my dorm today because I'm so sick and tired of the dining hall food.  The chili I microwaved was a million times better.  The other day some boy posted on my class' Facebook page that he apparently got sick after eating in our dining hall, and he went on a long rant about our food here.  While I've never gotten sick eating here, I have to agree that the food really sucks.  Just three more weeks, and I won't have to eat it for a month.

Now I have homework that I really need to get to.  I need to work on my final English portfolio, do some precalculus, look over our final study guide for history to see if I have any questions, and write a short paper for theology.  It sounds like a lot, but I'm working on bits each day, so it shouldn't take me too long.

English Scares and Over Long Speeches

Today was the first day of classes after fall break, and everything went pretty well.  I don't really enjoy precalculus, but class went all right today.  English went pretty good, but after class, I went to submit my paper and it went through the things that makes sure you don't plagiarize.  It told me that part of my paper was similar to another student's paper, and it ended up being this one phrase that was apparently similar.  I've only even read one other girl's paper in the class, and we wrote about different plays even.  I'm really worried about it now.  I don't even understand how one short phrase only used once got flagged, especially considering I didn't plagiarize at all.  Now I'm a bit paranoid about it.

We talked about the Rwandan genocide and watched part of a documentary in history today.  It's a historical even that I'm really interested in, so I enjoyed that class today, even though we got back our papers about the Communist Manifesto and I did pretty bad just like expected.

Tomorrow we start our final speeches in speech class.  Not everyone will go, but we don't know who will and who won't.  I really hope I don't end up going tomorrow because I haven't been able to say my speech within the time limit yet.  I'm prepared enough that I can do it if need be (and I tend to go quicker while in class anyway), but I really want more time so I can get it down to the time limit while practicing too.  We'll see.

I want to mention this here, since I haven't mentioned it on this blog.  I've written a Hunger Games fanfiction, and I'm currently posting it.  If you want to check it out, it's both here on fanfiction.net and here on my writing blog.  It's set about 25 years after Mockingjay.  I have three chapters up as of right now.

Naruto Shippuden Episodes 1-17 Review

I think these episodes are basically how far I got when I was watching Shippuden when it aired.  Then I decided that I was going to stop watching it until I'd gotten caught up with Naruto.  It's really nice to kind of have a story-line that's contributing to the plot as opposed to the filler I've been watching for months now.  I think I've been getting through the series faster now, and I'm not sure if that's just because I'm more into it now or I really am watching episodes faster.

I know quite a bit about what's going to happen later in the series, but even so these episodes are really well done.  I may not be worrying as much as I would be if I didn't know certain characters are definitely going to make it past this point, but I still get really into it when I watch it.

I should mention the first couple of episodes and everyone's reactions to Naruto being back.  I really loved that.  I'm a really sentimental person I guess, so stuff like that always makes me emotional.

I feel like I should mention the first scene of the first episode where you see Sasuke, but I really don't have much to say about it.  I'm excited to get to that part of the story though.

I love the sibling relationship that Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari have.  I really love Gaara's whole story-line.  He's probably one of my favorite characters.  (In fact, I would consider Gaara and Sasuke my favorite characters, which is a bit odd as I typicall don't like those kinds of characters.)

I also really like when the Akatsuki are in the show.  I think they're really great villians and the kind of characters that you kind of love to hate.  They're interesting and not boring or anything.  Plus, a lot of them really creep me out.

I don't think I really have much else to say about these episodes.  There's been some awesome fighting, but that's about it.  I can't wait to watch the coming episodes.  (I've actually watched through episode 20 at the moment.)

Thanksgiving 2012!

I know it's pretty late in the day, but happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans (and happy Thursday to the rest of the world).

Today was just a small Thanksgiving dinner with my immediate family and my grandma.  My mom's family already got together while I was still at school, and my dad's family is getting together on Saturday.  It was nice though, and I made everyone listen to One Direction's new CD.  (My sister's a fan, and my grandma even admitted to liking their music, so I don't know if I can technically say "made" as if they were being held down against their will or something.)

I managed to get a good amount of homework done, even though I think I was kind of in a food coma while doing it and it took me quite a while.  I still have a good amount to do over the rest of break, and since I'm going to the circus with Ji tomorrow, have my dad's family Thanksgiving Saturday, and have to go back to school Sunday, I can only hope that I'll get it all done.

I've just been reading the past hour or so, and I think I'm going to go try and get some more reading done before I take a shower.  Hopefully the rest of Thanksgiving break will be fun, and homework won't take up too much of my time!

Fun Packages and Being Home

I'm writing this from home!  My mom picked me up from school yesterday, so I'm now home for Thanksgiving.  It's a short break, since I have to be back at school on Sunday, but I'm still really happy to be back.

I haven't done much since getting here.  Making the four hour drive to and from school always wears me out, so I felt like doing absolutely nothing once I got home yesterday.  I had a decent amount of energy for the first hour or so I was home.  I had packages to open, and I was beyond excited about them.  I now have my new One Direction CD, my signed John Green poster, my Cher Lloyd buttons (another thank you to the people who helped me win those), and my Finding Hogwarts DVD.  Fun fact about the Finding Hogwarts DVD: my name is in the credits because I was one of the first 200 to preorder and I'm in one of the special features of the DVD because of this video.  It was really exciting to watch that special feature and see myself.

After the initial excitement wore off, I was tired and couldn't force myself to do anything.  I literally sat on my bed and mindlessly scrolled through Tumblr for hours while my sister sat beside me chattering on about random things.  Usually I break up Tumblr time instead of sitting there forever, but it was the only thing I could make myself do.  I told myself I was definitely going to work on homework yesterday, but that didn't happen.  That just means I have more to do now.  I have to do a precalculus test, finish up my English paper, and finish my persuasive speech outline plus practice the speech.  I don't think it's actually that much work, but since I'm at home I'm worried that I'm going to have so much going on that I won't get it done.

It's lunch time now though, so I really need to go find something to eat.  Then, I think I'd better get some homework done.  Otherwise I'm really going to regret it later.

Movie Review: Skateland

Freestyles Releasing
In theaters: May 13th, 2011 (limited)
On DVD: August 30th, 2011
Directed by Anthony Burns
Rated PG-13
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

Skateland,set against the landscape of upstart malls, Jordache jeans and iconic hang outs,is as much a story about embracing who you are as it is about moving on. The personal drama marks the poignant transition of a group of high school friends into adulthood. Set in the early 1980s, in small town Texas, it is genuine, touching and candid snapshot of the lives of a close-knit group of friends who are confronted with the realities of the precarious world around them. The film revolves around a charismatic young skating rink manager named Ritchie Wheeler (Shiloh Fernandez), brother and sister Brent and Michelle Burkham (Heath Freeman, Ashley Greene) and the legendary, wise-cracking, Kenny Crawford (Taylor Handley) as their dreams and carefree lives start to fade into an uncertain future. -- (C) Freestyle Releasing

Review:

I'll be honest, the absolute only interest I had in this movie came from the fact that Ashley Greene is in it (which seems to be a trend for me lately, only watching movies because a certain actor or two is in them).  The synopsis didn't sound incredibly interesting, and none of the reviews made it sound all that great either.  Lo and behold, I didn't really like this movie.  I just wasn't interested by the plot or anything else.  It was also extremely predictable.  Normally that doesn't really bother me, but there's one part of the movie that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be shocking, but I knew it was going to happen way before it did.

I wouldn't say the movie was bad per se, but I wasn't really into it.  I was slightly bored, but it kept me interested enough that I didn't give up on watching it through to the end.  I just didn't find the plot that interesting, and I didn't really connect to any of the characters.  I could see how others might like this movie, but it wasn't that great to me.

Homework Makes Me Unproductive in Other Ways

For several days now I've been meaning to write a blog post, but by the time I finish homework I just don't feel like doing anything.  I've been putting off homework all day today, so I'm writing this now instead.

I've been listening to a Hunger Games podcast on and off since I woke up this morning.  I'm not even sure how it's taken that long.  Little things just keep happening to cause me to pause it.  I did stop to do some homework later, but I wasn't very productive.  I did a few precalculus problems and wrote a few paragraphs for an English paper.  Not much.  I still need to do quite a bit, and I plan on working on that as soon as I finish listening to this podcast.  It's playing as I write this post.

I also took a bit of time to write earlier, and I was more productive than I have been for at least a month.  I got a ton written.  It was great.  I'm hoping to get even more ton later as well.

The podcast is almost finished though, so I'm going to go study for history for a bit.  I have a quiz Monday!

Nearing the End of the Semester

Since it's getting somewhat late into the semester, we're starting work on all of our final speeches/papers/etc. in all of my classes.  We're basically in the planning stage of everything now, so I'm not swamped with work right now.  I just have tons of planning I'm doing right now for different things.

I have to start work on my persuasive (and final) speech today.  I had a tough time deciding on a topic, but I think I've finally got one after class today.

The only thing I've actually done today is go to classes.  I've only been back from classes long enough to finish up my precalculus homework and write this post.  I think a good portion of the rest of my day will be taken up by planning my speech and final portfolio for English.

Movie Review: Rango

Paramount Pictures
Released in theaters: March 4th, 2011
Released on DVD: July 15th, 2011
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Written by John Logan
Rated PG
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

Rango is a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet, while facing a major identity crisis. After all, how high can you aim when your whole purpose in life is to blend in? When Rango accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt - a lawless outpost populated by the desert's most wily and whimsical creatures - the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out. Welcomed as the last hope the town has been waiting for, new Sheriff Rango is forced to play his new role to the hilt... -- (C) Paramount

Review:

I have very mixed feelings about this movie.  The only reason I really wanted to see it was because Johnny Depp does the voice of the main character.  None of the trailers I'd seen looked all that interesting to me, but I decided to give it a chance anyway.  I think my feelings on Rango are the same as they are about Happy Feet.  I love both movies in some ways and hate them in others.  It's a bit hard to explain.  I've always loved Happy Feet, but I never really have a desire to watch it because, although I enjoy the movie as a whole, there are quite a few parts that bore me as well.  Rango was basically the same way.

Overall, I enjoyed Rango's story, but there were large parts of the movie where I got bored.  I didn't think it was bad though.  It's just not a movie that I'd probably watch over and over.  Watching it once was enough for me.  I thought the animation was absolutely beautiful though.  That was probably my favorite part of the whole movie.  The animation was fantastic.

Rango isn't your typical animated movie.  Like I said earlier, it kind of reminds me more of Happy Feet than anything else, even though the stories aren't really all that similar.  Something about the two movies just makes me think of the other.  Although I'll probably never actually want to watch Rango again, I did enjoy it overall, and I would recommend checking it out.

Oddly Warm Weather

I'm taking a break from watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie to write this post.  I don't even know why I'm bothering to write one, since nothing notable has happened today.  I listened to a podcast earlier, went to church, came back to my dorm, wrote a little bit, and now I'm watching Little House.  Oh, and I worked on precalculus and studied for a geography quiz in history somewhere in between that stuff too.  I think the rest of my day will be spent watching a movie and reading or something.  I don't plan on doing anything exciting.

I just want to comment on how awesome the weather has been the past couple of days though.  We have a high of seventy today.  It's been so warm and amazing.  It's apparently going to get cold again tomorrow, which makes me a bit sad.  I've really liked how warm it's been since Friday.

Non-Productive Saturday

Today has been an extremely lazy day.  I usually do laundry on Saturdays, but I decided to put that off today.  I also usually take out the trash, but I completely forgot to take it with me when I went to lunch.  (Let's hope I remember when I go eat dinner.)  So the only productive thing I've done all day is a few precalculus problems and writing a movie review on here. The rest of my day has consisted of watching Naruto and How I Met Your Mother, and, of course, sitting on Twitter and Tumblr.  Oh, and I also watched Youtube videos.  Now I'm going to go read some fanfiction...

Movie Review: No Strings Attached

Paramount Pictures
In theaters: January 21st, 2011
On DVD: May 10th, 2011
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Written by Elizabeth Meriwether
Rated R
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

In this comedy, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly "no strings attached." "No strings" means no jealousy, no expectations, no fighting, no flowers, no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever public place they want, as long as they don't fall in love. The questions become - Can you have sex without love getting in the way? And can their friendship survive? -- (C) Paramount

Review:

I'm way behind writing this review.  It's been almost a month since I watched No Strings Attached, so we'll see how this review goes...

I thought it was a cute movie, and I enjoyed it.  The only reason I really wanted to see it was because Natalie Portman is in it, and I thought she did a great job.  I'm not really an Ashton Kutcher fan, but I thought he was okay in here.  The movie was fun to watch, but it reallly wasn't all that great.  I'll probably never have any desire to watch it again, but it kept me entertained enough.

I wish I had more to say, but I can't remember too many details now as it's been so long since I watched it...

Book Review: The Emerald Talisman by Brenda Pandos

ASIN:  B003E35ZAA
Published: March 23rd, 2010
Publisher: Obsidian Mountain
Read from October 9th to 16th, 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads:

To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.
Readers who enjoyed Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Blue Bloods and The Morganville Vampires will enjoy The Emerald Talisman.

Review:

Canceled Classes, Donuts, and Little Mix

I'm really happy it's the weekend.  Plus, my English class was canceled today, so I only had precalculus.  Precalculus is my least favorite class, but our professor brought us donuts today, which made it infinitely better.  We've also began a new chapter that I understand way better than the stuff we were learning before, so I wasn't sitting there extremely lost the whole time like I sometimes do.

To make the day even better, it's unseasonably warm outside today.  I could probably get by without a jacket on outside right now, and that just makes me beyond happy.  I don't know how long this will last for, but I'm enjoying it while it's here.

Little Mix also released a new song today, which only adds to the awesomeness today.  I probably like the song less than "Wings" and "DNA," but it's still a great song in my opinion.

The only thing bringing me down at all is this headache that started about an hour ago.  It just keeps getting worse, so I'm probably going to end up taking some migraine medicine before too long.  I'm going to go watch some Little House on the Prairie though, and hopefully medicine won't be needed to get rid of this headache.

Sleepy and Rainy Day

I've been incredibly tired today, and I have no idea why.  Sure I stayed up last night to see the election results and register for classes for next semester, but I was still in bed at the same time I normally am.  I have no idea why I've barely been able to stay awake today.

Compared to yesterday, today's been really quiet and uneventful.  I didn't have much homework, so I've been watching Naruto and How I Met Your Mother.  It's rainy outside, so the whole day has just felt pretty dreary.  It definitely hasn't been a bad day by any means, but I don't think the weather has helped how tired I feel.

Since not much has happened today, I really don't have anything else to say.  The most notable part of today was my history professor showing us pictures from her trip to Africa.  Most of the day has been pretty boring.  Now, I have an episode of How I Met Your Mother to finish watching...

Election and French Films

It's been five days since I wrote a blog post.  I didn't realize how long it had been until I sat down to write this one.  Whoops.  Today's an exciting day though.  As I'm sure you know, today's election day in America.  It's almost the only thing I see on Twitter today.  (And if you're reading this, were able to vote, and chose not to vote, then I'm definitely judging you.)  Whereas the rest of Twitter and almost all of Tumblr is focused on One Direction.  I'm still not over hearing the whole new album yesterday.  I feel as if things have been pretty great in the One Direction fandom recently.  There was a bit of drama today because of the new Louis interview that came out, and what he apparently said about Larry shippers.  I think most people are just ignoring it though.  It's not as if things like that haven't happened before.  For me personally, I definitely don't like it, but it doesn't bother me anymore.

I spent almost all of my time today where I wasn't in class or doing homework watching a French film I found on Netflix.  I'm sure I'll get around to writing or filming a review of it eventually, but I enjoyed it.  It's interesting how different French films are from American films.  (I'm saying that after only seeing two that I can remember in my life though.)

The rest of my night should be interesting.  At midnight I'll be able to register for classes for next semester, and hopefully I'll get all of the classes I want without any problems.  There's also the election results.  They're saying that we probably won't know a winner until tomorrow, but I'm going to try and keep an eye on them tonight anyway.  This election is so close that I've been feeling a bit stressed about it all day.  I get overly excited about a lot of things, and I worry about things just as much, so I'm really anxious to see who will end up being our president for the next four years.

All Saints Day and My Last 1st Year Experience Class

Today has been a somewhat eventful day as far as Thursdays usually go.  My speech class was the same as usual, but I didn't have theology class because there was an all campus mass during that time.  Since I go to a Catholic university, there are occasionally masses during the day where all classes and meetings are cancelled  so we can go if we want.  Today's was for All Saints' Day since it's a holy day of obligation.  So instead of going to theology class I went to mass.  It was the most crowded I've ever seen the chapel here on campus.

After mass and a really quick lunch, I had my last first year experience class.  I really liked the people in that class, so I'm somewhat sad it's ending.  I'm happy that I'll always be able to eat lunch a bit earlier now though.  We never really did much in there.  It was just meant as a way to help freshmen adjust to their first year of college.  We had fun a lot of the time though.

Since then I've been procrastinating on homework.  I'm on Tumblr for the first time in days, so I'm finding it difficult to focus on anything else.  I did manage to write some of my history paper, but I still have a decent amount of homework to do.  It shouldn't be a problem though.  I'll get it done.