Well talk about a fail for the month of January. It’s been a good while since I’ve posted anything here. It’s been an awfully busy start to a very busy semester for me. But I’ll jump right in.
Avatar Movie Review
I’m going to say right off I really enjoyed this movie a lot. But I felt that the plot was a direct pull from Disney’s Pocahontas. White man meets native girl, natives teach him their ways, white man and “savage” fall in love and try to bring the fighting between their people to a stop, etc. But I felt that it was a different enough twist with aliens, new planet, outer space, futuristic time period that it was well worth the watch.
I also feel that it had very strong themes on community, nature, and protecting your environment. You get emotionally invested in the storyline and want things to workout. This movie in fact reminds me a lot of the Disney movies I watched growing up as a kid and made me think of the impact those still have on me now. For example, with The Lion King, every little girl (and some boys) between the ages or 4 and 8 became obsessed with lions around the time this movie came out. We all wanted to play with Simba and Nala and Zazu, the nice African animals. We grew a sympathy for lions, and now I think my generation is more conscious and sympathetic towards African wildlife because it subconsciously reminds us of our animal friends from The Lion King, that we watched and played with as kids.
There is similar effect that the Discovery Channel has created with Shark Week on television. People love Shark Week! I hear about it non-stop when it’s airing. People talk about sharks and how awesome they are instead of how many people they bite a year. The few people who do bring up how they bite people, someone pulls out a statistic (learned on Shark Week) about how more people die of bee stings a year than who get bitten by sharks. You have a better chance of dying from a lightning strike than a shark bite.
My point is, that I see this movie getting into people’s subconscious and making them more sympathetic to environmental issues and difference among people. Who cares if you’re tall, blue, and you have a tail; we can still get along! Media effects people, our opinions, what we think, our morals and so on. This movie will impact younger generations most specifically. And from what I see, it will be a good impact. I give Avatar two thumbs up, and I will probably be buying the DVD.
<Dork Alert> P.S. - One other relationship… you know how in Pocahontas when she’s singing “Colors of the Wind” and she touches the tree and the rock right before you see the bears and the ground glowed… I wonder if Avatar took that from Pocahontas? Hehe. I always wanted to be able to do that… </dork>
Paper Planes is a video I made for my Time Studio class. It was filmed in edited in one day. Just the way I like to get things done. So with out much more adieu, enjoy!
All kinds of cheese. Swiss and cheddar go together surprisingly well. American is great on sandwiches. Gouda is okay, and port salut which is difficult to find but I found amazing the one time I tried it. But I like other kinds of cheese as well.
Romantic cheese is nice, with poems and praise, which are always flattering. Although I don’t believe it to be cheesy since it shows thought and intelligence to interpret the poem to relate to another person and then share it with them. Or even better if it is written. Creative expression with words is not always easily mastered, but the effort is highly appreciated with me.
Another thing I love that’s sometimes considered cheesy; chivalry. I have the utmost respect for guys who are genuinely chivalrous to women. I’ve known a few, and I really like to hang on to them even as just friends because I love being treated as a lady at times.
I also like cheesy jokes. Not all the time! I like clever jokes too. But a well placed cheesy joke can make me laugh so hard that I cry. I find joy in just being silly even if it’s just, “Why did the chicken cross the road? … To get to the other side!”
But in contrast to being completely silly is logic, I believe. Logical conversations are best. And well, this topic seems to come out of nowhere and may have missed a few people… but hopefully someone understands it and would like a conversation. I know I would.
(Not to mention, I love that I got to put a giant picture of cheese on my blog.)
When I was little, my parents used to take me here what seemed like all the time. So much that I’d get sick of it and they’d just be dragging me around and I’d get tired and whine. I was a whiner. Now that it’s been a few years since I’ve gone, I’m much more interested. Also, the last time I went was my pre-hardcore photography interest, so I felt like I went there with a completely fresh perspective and it was wonderful.
First off, the weather was beautiful and perfect. It was a lovely sunny day out, the greenhouses were a warm (kind of sweaty) 80-something degrees, and outside it was a cool, breezy 60ºF. Second, I had wonderful people with me from my Photography Club. It was a small group, but very fun. You can view all of my photos from Saturday in my Flickr Set.
Inspired by @JavaJunky’s desire to go sit on some swings, I was reminded of my own love for swings. I recall being quite the swing hog when I was in primary school (K-3). I would run out across the playground in order to get the best swing for me; one where my feet wouldn’t drag in the gravel nor would I have to jump up to reach the seat.
Once I had the perfect swing, I would spend the almost whole grueling 20 minute recess on that one swing. Usually I’d have a friend next to me and we’d race to see who could get the highest the fastest. And whenever two people got stuck swinging together at the same rate we’d shout, “Get out of my bathroom!” and other such childish things.
Other times I would be alone, or just in my own mind and I would just watch the clouds above, aiming my feet at them. Then I’d imagine being able to jump off at the very top of the upswing and fly over the football feild and over the trees on the other side.
This is one of my few childhood memories that let’s me pry into that child’s imagination I had back then. I savor these memories and still enjoy a good session on a swing to really remember them. Now, if you were also a swing hog, then you know the one funny downside to swinging for so long. When you finally jump off at the end of recess when they rung the bell, you land in a spray of dirty gravel and stand up and do that funny waddle back to the classroom because your butt has lost partial felling from the swing seat.
To all fellow swing hogs: go find a swing for me and go swinging again. :)
1. Don’t settle for anyone.
2. Get a design I’d want if I ever got a tattoo.
3. Watch a meteor shower.
4. Dress up for the historical society in 1800’s fashion.
5. Go on a real picnic with friends.
6. Go clubbing.
7. Plant some potted flowers and keep them alive.
8. Introduce a friend to the wonder that is Sherman’s ice cream.
9. Leave a 50 - 100% tip for great service.
10. Memorize a poem.
11. Read 50 books [3/50]
12. Cover a wall in pictures I’ve taken.
13. Get rid of one piece of furniture in my bedroom at home.
14. Photograph the Northern Lights.
15. Create my websites and maintain them.
16. Have a piece of writing published.
17. Start keeping index cards of what books I’ve read.
18. Take 100 Photographs I like enough to print out and store in a photo album. [0/100]
19. Make 100 Icons 100×100 size for fun. [0/100]
20. Get rid of 100 things I don’t need in one week.
21. Save $1000 in savings and don’t touch it.
22. Learn to French braid and get good at it.
23. Make mashed potatoes for my friends.
24. Send a postcard to Post Secret.
25. Take a picture of myself at least five days a week for a year. [20/52]
26. Do something fun for my 20th birthday.
27. Learn some ASL.
28. Make Christmas presents.
29. Learn to play “Zanarkand” on piano by memory.
30. Get a pair of nice shoes.
31. Finish writing any story.
32. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years.
33. Be in bed by 10pm every night for a week.
34. Take a photo of something interesting everyday for a month.
35. Blog at least once a week. [25/143]
36. Have a “girls’ night” 5 times. [0/5]
37. Visit at least 2 new states. [0/2]
38. Blog and prove everything completed (if possible) on this list. [1/101]
39. Write a love letter (to someone else or myself).
40. See a Broadway play in NYC.
41. Write and draw a little comic/children’s book.
42. Create 10 new paintings from original photos. [0/10]
43. Go out just for fun at least once.
44. Learn basic CSS.
45. Complete an old dare of kissing a stranger.
46. Get someone else to do 101 in 1001.
47. Have a “family night” once a month in summer -movies/games/reading/etc.
48. Write my future husband a letter once a month for a year. [4/12]
49. Use one full box of teeth whitening strips in a month. [0/30]
50. Create post/greeting cards out of my photos and send to people.
51. Swim in a lake at least twice a month in the summer.
52. Ride the whole Kal-Haven Trail, at least one way.
53. Scan important family photos and make a CD of them for mom.
54. Find eye shadow colors that work for me and how to make it look good.
55. Keep taking ballroom dance at school and possibly over the summer.
56. Learn more about my family tree.
57. Find a layout for my room and keep it that way and clean.
58. Get a TV for my apartment next year.
59. Get a job.
60. Take a massage class to compare with my skills from personal experience.
61. Take a friend to the beach.
62. Hike Canyon Falls again.
63. Visit Brett.
64. Have a “romantic” Valentine’s dinner–in or out! (with single friends is okay.)
65. Don’t ever get a credit card.
66. Spend one whole day reading.
67. See three mainstream music concerts live. [1/3] (Hellogoodbye)
68. Go camping somehow.
69. Get a complete (min. 4 person) dinnerware set for myself.
70. Put $2 in an envelope for each task I complete and go on a shopping spree with what I saved. [$0/202]
71. Write and illustrate a fairy tale.
72. Read all the unread books on my shelf or get rid of them.
73. Look into doing a semester abroad in England.
74. Plan a plausible trip to Wales to the town my great-great-great grandfather came from.
75. Buy real bras that fit me.
76. Sleep under the stars with someone close to me.
77. Organize all my photographs, and print/back up the ones on this computer.
78. Send a message in a bottle.
79. Get a pair of awesome knitted wrist-warmers.
80. Blow bubbles in public with friends.
81. Take one photo a week for a year. [25/52]
82. Take a few photos and write an accompanying blog post. [15/52]
83. Make a book (on blurb?) of said photos and posts.
84. Write one blog post a week for a year. [25/52]
85. Sketch more.
86. Draw cartoons occasionally.
87. Be silent for an entire day.
88. Build a sand castle.
89. Build a snowman.
90. Write a future wedding guest list for fun.
91. Frame and display my own photography.
92. Find out how soon I could get my own cat.
93. Play RISK or some version of it more.
94. Play chess at least once a month for a year. [0/12]
95. Send five happy/uplifting postcards to random addresses.
96. Take pictures in a photo booth.
97. Meet at least one person from YWS.
98. Find happiness being single.
99. Give away 30 happy paintings.
100. Don’t be afraid to fall in love.
101. Love and be loved.
All kinds of cheese. Swiss and cheddar go together surprisingly well. American is great on sandwiches. Gouda is okay, and port salut which is difficult to find but I found amazing the one time I tried it. But I like other kinds of cheese as well.
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