the cinema theater 01: Frozen, the love story you wouldn't expect

Over the Thanksgiving holidays, I went to see Disney's Frozen with my sister. If you have already seen this movie, then you can guess that seeing this movie with my sister just made it much better than if I had seen it without her.

I didn't know what to expect really when I went to see Frozen. I knew it was about a kingdom that was under some magical power making it permanently winter, like Narnia or something. I knew that the two princesses, Anna and Elsa, were sisters and Elsa had magical winter powers and Anna was on a journey to find her.

What I didn't realize was that this story is about finding love and learning to love and be loved. There's the classic Disney princess problems of needing true love to break a curse, and of betrayal and finding real love. What's different about Frozen is that true love, betrayal, and learning to love can come from anywhere and from anyone. This movie breaks the stereotypes that Disney has made for itself about princess movies.

The music score and cast are also amazing, with Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell as Elsa and Anna. "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" and "Let It Go" are hands down the two greatest songs from the film.

Stay tuned for more!

channel 2: Dexter Morgan, America's Favorite Serial Killer

I recently finished watching every episode of the Showtime thriller Dexter that is offered on Netflix and OH BOY LET ME TELL YOU.

Ok, so here's the basic scoop without the spoilers. Dexter Morgan is a serial killer that only kills multi-homicidal people, so basically other serial killers. He works as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Homicide Division, and he leads a rather normal life despite his need to kill people. The show follows him through his own self discovery as he changes and as he solves cases surrounding big time serial killers. Practically every season Dexter is almost caught doing his serial killer thing, but thanks to a strange series of events, he manages to get away with it.

Not only is Dexter Morgan a fascinating character to follow and try to rationalize, the characters around him are just as fascinating, mostly because HOW DO THEY NOT KNOW HE KILLS PEOPLE?

I warn you now though; you may not like the show at first, but the more you watch it the more emotionally invested you become. I still have four more seasons to wait on, get it together Netflix!!

Stay tuned for more!

the playlist track 04: This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco

WOW. Ok so yeah, they sound completely different compared to their older songs like The Ballad of Mona Lisa and whatnot, yet they still sound fantastic. The heartbeat-like drumming in the beginning with the techno-ish harmonies makes a perfect lead in into the explosive lyric "If you love me, let me go" and the lyrics are just straight up genius as usual. And the video itself is just incredibly intense, with this tension of fluidity versus rigid in the choreography. P!ATD never ceases to amaze me and I will forever be a fan and avid listener.

the playlist track 03: O' Be Joyful by Shovels and Rope

Alrighty, so the first time I heard a recording of this group was through a late night study cram with Pandora and coffee. I didn't really know their music well until just recently when I saw them perform live. The energy and talent they put out on stage is amazing and if they roll into town near you, I highly recommend getting a ticket! This song I love specifically because of the lyrics and the rocking guitar throughout. The vocals are amazing as well, and this also happens to be my favourite song that they performed live.

Stay tuned for more!

the playlist track 02: Youth by Daughter

So this song I first heard when I went to the college modern dance recital at the end of the spring semester. The dance that went with this song was choreographed by students and the song was chosen by them.

I love the simple guitar melody at the opening of the song and how it carries on throughout the entire track. The song does the typical building up and then calming down, adding more instrumentation and creating louder vocals.

This song really inspires me when I have writer's block or artist's block.

Stay tuned!

book review! Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman: Endless Nights"

First off, this is not your regular 200-300 page novel. This is is a 152 page work of artistic and linguistic genius. I read this graphic novel before I read "Preludes and Nocturnes", which basically introduced the characters. "Endless Nights" is made up of seven chapters, each dedicated to an aspect of life and all of them start with the letter "D".

First is Death, a short story about the never-ending party in Venice. Second is Desire, and the pain suffered from pursuing it. Third is Dream, and the conflicts of reality and the dreamworld. Fourth is Despair, and the causes and effects of it on many different levels. Fifth is Delirium, and the confusion and hidden happiness found there. Sixth is Destruction, and the portrayal of  the positive side that no one sees. And finally the seventh chapter is on Destiny, and the struggle between its ambiguity and the future.

I don't want to give too much away here because reading "Endless Nights" without knowing too much about it is what really made it have such an impact on me. When I started reading, I was confused because each chapter didn't seem to relate to the next. But by the end, I finally had it figured out and I wanted to read more.

There are many different graphic novels and short stories under the title of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, and I encourage you to read as many as possible! I started and finished "Preludes and Nocturnes" and now I plan to finish the four book series after it and continue on. Neil Gaiman is a genius with plot and with imagery, and I promise that if you enjoy books that challenge what literature is, you will not be disappointed here.

Stay tuned for more!

the summer itch

It's that time of year again; all the plants have finally grown big and green again including the dreaded poison ivy and poison oak. If you're a super-allergic yet also super-outdoorsy person like I am, you probably know what the little buggers look like and can keep away. But for those of you who have trouble picking them out among all the other leafy green things or are just prone to getting poison ivy rashes despite keeping your distance (me included), it's important to know how to keep it from spreading and to treat that ugly awful red itchy rash you get.

(Just a quick image to help you remember what poison ivy/oak looks like. Three leaves rule, with a red stem.)

In my personal experience, the first thing to do once you even THINK that you MIGHT have poison ivy is to wash it off! The oil from the leaves will spread as you tough the area, so washing the oil off will keep if from giving you more itchy patches. There are herbal soaps you can use to wash the area off that are made specifically for these situations, but I just use a grease-cutting dish soap. Just get that oil off your skin! ALSO it's a really good idea to take all the clothes you were wearing when you got the poison ivy and put it all in a garbage bag. Wash these things SEPARATE from your other clothes. You can wash them a second time if you're paranoid.

So now you've washed it off and it's all red and super duper itchy. I hate to break it to you, but it's gonna be itchy for a while. BUT there are some natural remedies to help soothe the redness and itch.

Soaking the affected area in warm water with some baking soda and/or raw oats will help a whole lot. The baking soda helps to heal and clean the area and the oats help to soothe the skin. If it's a larger area, you can soak in a bath and mix a small amount of baking soda with raw oats into a dish rag and tie it into a little ball and just chuck it in the tub with you.

If you really just can't stand the itchiness, there are several all-natural products you can find at a health food type store that relieve poison ivy itch. I suggest something with aloe vera in it (which is also awesome for sunburns).

Try not to scratch the rash as much as possible. If you accidentally break open the rash, clean it with rubbing alcohol and put antibacterial gel on it ASAP. You don't wanna have an itchy AND infected red rash!

Stay away from the three-leafed menace and use as much natural remedies as you can! Be healthy and stay tuned!

project horizons

I'll admit it, I'm pretty addicted to Pintrest, but I mean who isn't? It's a fabulous way to find and save online ideas, photos, articles, videos, recipes...all kinds of stuffs!

But ANYWAYS, I was browsing around on my Pinterest board category of "Books, Movies and TV" when I found a whole slew of different links to blogs and websites with recommended books to read. And so then I got this great idea of "Hey, I have a blog...maybe I should do this too!" Well of course I then thought "Wait, if everyone with a blog does this then why don't I do something different?" 

So here's the deal: I'm gonna make a huge list of books that I haven't read that are recommended to me. I'll pick books from the list at random, read them, and then put one of me personal-opinion-blurbs on here. Don't worry, I won't spoil any of them for you ;) If I like the book enough, I'll add it to my little library list here on my blog. If it's not up to snuff for me, it won't make it in the library.

I'll post the list up here on another tab labeled "project horizons". The books will be listed under the library tab. This might extend out to other media like movies and TV shows but for now we'll just stick to the books.

Stay tuned!

never grow up!

this is not a fan page

As this post title dictates this is not a fan page. It is not dedicated to a "fandom", I do not "ship" but I am a total fangirl of like a butt ton of fandoms hahahaha and I do not consider myself to be a "fangirl". I'm not dissing those that fall under these categories, you all are fantastic and hilarious people. I'm just not exactly that kind of a blogger. Yes, I will most likely go into ranting and raving posts about certain TV shows, books and movies that I love but I just want to clarify that this blog is open to all kinds of media that I find intriguing, worth the time and well basically it'll be something just stuck in my mind.

And my very first personal-opinion-blurb (gotta think of a good little nick-name for that...) is about...drum roll........Supernatural!

Okies, so I'm a very new viewer to this show since I just discovered it on Netflix but I have heard all kinds of glorious things about it from friends. And I must admit I do think it is a fantastic show. BUT, when I watched the first episode I was a little freaked out. I'm not a huge fan of supernatural/horror related stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love a good horror movie every now and then, but by every now and then I mean once a year at Halloween. But this show has made me actually like horror and sci-fi type stuff. I'm only a few episodes in but already the overarching plot line is fantastic and intriguing, the sub-plots that make up the individual episodes are equally awesome, and then the demons and spirits that are in the episodes are scary but also each one has a unique kind of back story as to why they do what they do.

And, I'll admit, I am totally smitten with Mr. Dean Winchester. Yes, Sam is adorable and a sweetheart but I am completely drawn into Dean's humorous and tortured personality. I am no where NEAR being done watching every single episode, but when I do, you can expect another personal-opinion-blurb from me!

Stay tuned!

a little intro

This is just a little introduction of me to whoever actually reads this, and THANK YOU to you for reading this! It's nice to know that my words get out there to somebody's eyes and ears.

I'm a college student, majoring in Education with a little Art History minor on the side and a bunch of random history and literature courses that don't really add up to anything. I don't really know what I'm gonna do with all that but the basic plan is to become some kind of teacher...eventually. I have many-a hobby, but to save time we'll just leave it at arts appreciation and horses. If you stick around and read some more of my little blurbs, you'll learn more about what arts in specific. I've traveled to seven countries in Europe, but I have only been to a few of the fifty states here in the good old USA. The dream is to visit every state and every continent before this body gives out on me. So far, I'm not doing so great at that but hey it's a start.

So why am I blogging? Well, I have tried blogging before but I could never figure out how to keep it up and I always lost my inspiration for it. The basic reasons are to 1) get me to write more 2) give me a project to keep me motivated and 3) why the heck not? The overarching goal here is to simply force me to write and write often. I really do love to write, I just never give my self ample amount of time to do it. ALSO, a little background to the title of this blog. The phrase "barefoot on a summer night" comes from one of my absolute favorite songs by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. The song (if you don't know it already) is called Home and not only is it adorable it's super catchy and has fantastic lyrics.

So there it is, a little bit of info about me and why this blog exists. Stay tuned for more!