Movie Remakes

I would like to consider myself an avid movie watcher. I am also very particular in the types of movies I watch; mainly because I'm a really picky person. There was a recent remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now, I'm a huge fan of the original and wasn't too keen of seeing the remake. The original, to be honest, is pretty bad, and I think that's why it's a cult classic is the fact that it's so bad that it's so good. It's a very boundary pushing movie, especially for a movie released in the 70's.

I decided to watch the remake, it couldn't be too bad if Tim Curry was going to have a role, after all he's the original Dr. Frank-n-Furter. The movie didn't start out too bad, now I do know they were looking at the original stage production script while doing the remake. I did miss the lips introduction though. The more I watched the movie, the more I despised it. The singing was on par, and what I mean by that is, is that it was flawless which isn't what the original is about. The same can be said about the choreography, especially "The Time Warp" in which they barely used ANY of the original dance. It was a let down.

I think there was an amazing cast for the movie, but the cast fell through. I, however, did not like Laverne Cox portraying Frank-n-Furter, mainly because it's suppose to be a man in women's clothing, they're transvestites. The rest of the cast was PURPOSEFULLY acting bad, it was painful to watch, considering they're all amazing actors, but the acting was bad on PURPOSE. It was unbearable. Adam Lambert as Eddie was amazing, but that was about it. I realize it's about how they were directed to portray the characters, but it was also just horribly bad. It's hard to remake a cult classic.

Motivation

Sometimes people lose the will or drive to continue on the roads they have chosen for their creative outlets. Because of this lack of motivation, they find other things to do to fill up their spare time, and most often than not, it isn't really all that productive. Then you hear people say things such as, "It's your free time do with it what you will," or "At least you were doing something." To this I say, no. I realize that people sometimes lose that motivation to do what they originally set out to do, but perhaps it's best to find something more productive to do.

I'm a perfect example of this. I haven't posted on this blog since 2012, and I'm sure few people have actually read it anyway; but when I originally started this blog, I was wanting to get into the habit of writing on it at least once a week, to keep up with writing and keep my mind flowing with ideas and such, that could possibly prove useful to me in the future as a writer. My long term goal was to be a published author and finish one of the stories/novels that I have started, even if it was through NaNoWriMo in November, just finishing a rough copy of one of my stories would be a huge accomplishment for me and something that I want, no, NEED to do. So when I lose my motivation I turn to being online for long, extended periods of time, watching movies, Netflix, etc.

However, writing isn't the only thing I've lost motivation for. I'm trying to get back into doing the crafts that I use to do, and that I use to be so good at. I recently started getting back into plastic canvas crafts again, even giving one of my completed crafts to a dear friend of mine, who said I should do more of them and sell them on Etsy, which starting an Etsy shop has been in the back of my mind for a while now. The good thing with getting back into crafts, is I can watch movies in the background while I work, I've even gone as far as picking things that are popular and making my own designs for them for plastic canvas, which is quite difficult, as all the designs are done by hand.

I have also wanted to get back into walking, and perhaps incorporating small scale exercises to it. For the walking, I've been waiting for the weather to be better, as I live in Kansas the weather is unpredictable. A prime example would be it was 85 degrees yesterday, thunderstorming today with a temperature of 77, and it's suppose to snow about half an inch tonight, so going outside to walk has been somewhat out of my control, but something I can start doing again.

Reading more is something that I've been meaning to do as well, plus, it would help improve my writing style as well, but I always find "something" that prevents me from doing it amongst the other things listed above. I think, having someone to help motivate you and keep you on track to your goal and help you be held accountable for what you have set out to do, will ultimately help you in the long run, and it could easily make you a better person. Perhaps, even finding people with the same interests and same hobbies/goals to help you stay on your goal path would help even more, and you'd get to make new friends. Who doesn't want new friends with similar interests? I know I do. The key, is to have someone to help motivate you, in turn you can help motivate that person with their goals as well. It may not be an easy road, no road you pick in life will ever be easy, but in the end finishing that book whether writing or reading, starting that craft store you've been longing to do for a while, or even exercising more, will be well worth it in the end, and you will have that sense of accomplishment, which is the best feeling in the world.

Bullying and Teachers Inaction

This is the article, which inspired this rant to some extent in reference to the Fox hit show “Glee.”

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202

So, after reading this article recently it started to make me think about bullying. Not, that I’ve never thought of bullying before, because I was bullied in high school, but that was also years ago for me, and bullying, although it was awful, has gotten a lot worse in recent years, causing young people to take there lives. However, my attention has been brought more recently to Glee, which is a show I have adored since the beginning, after a recent episode entitled “Michael,” parts of the episode infuriated me. I read the article in question a couple days after watching Glee’s “Michael” episode, and it brought my attention to the fact that teachers stand by and nothing to stop bullying, even when they see it and know it’s going on.

Kids, teens, and adults of all ages watch Glee, I’m 27 and watch Glee with my roommates, but my mom and my 16 year old sister also watch Glee. This article infuriated me, but also made me cry. So, I’m going to point out bullying within Glee and the consequences, or lack thereof, that happened as a result. Or things that, perhaps they may have gotten in trouble for that had nothing to do with bullying. Furthermore, I will also mention, inappropriate behavior done by teachers. However, please bear with me, I may miss something that may have happened, but hey, there’s a lot of bullying and such to be able to catch everything, but I will get the big things that happened.

In Season 1 of Glee, Mr. Schue walks by while all the jocks are standing next to a dumpster with Kurt, and he asks Finn about his Spanish essay and if Kurt’s making new friends. However, Mr. Schue keeps walking as the jocks toss Kurt into the dumpster. Mr. Schue just kept walking, I’m pretty sure he knew Kurt would never hang out with the jock guys, letting this happen. In the same episode, Mr. Schue blackmails Finn to join New Directions by saying that weed was found in his locker, when the weed was actually Mr. Schue’s. Can I say inappropriate? There are no words to describe this low point that Mr. Schue has sunk to, or desperation for the Glee Club to be good and win. I wonder, sometimes, if Mr. Schue’s agenda is more for himself that the actual Glee Club.

Also, slushing done by the jocks, it may not be verbal or physically hurtful, but the teachers, especially Mr. Schue, know that the slushing is going on, and yet NO ONE, does anything to stop it.

To go off, Mr. Schue’s “agenda” as mentioned above, he gets April Rhodes to come back to McKinley to get her diploma by taking his Spanish class, so she can join Glee Club and help the win in their upcoming competition. See, what I mean? But April, just does more inappropriate things with the Glee Club members, like giving Kurt alcohol and muscle magazines, showering with Puck and Mike, and also trying to teach Mercedes and Tina how to shoplift. When brought to the attention of Miss Pillsbury, Mr. Schue doesn’t really do anything about it until the very end.

Student don’t even report some of the stuff, that happens, like when Puck locked Artie in the porter pottie and was going to flip it, until Finn stopped him. And when the football guys paintball gunned Finn for missing practice. Nothing happened to anyone, in form of punishment.

Jesse St. James eggs Rachel with the help from of his Vocal Adrenaline peers, something Rachel mentions. The guys get up to “mess up that Jesse kids face,” as they put it, but were stopped by Mr. Schue. I agree, violence versus violence is never the answer, but I also disagree with Mr. Schue half the time. When students do something like egging people, slushing, throwing people into dumpsters, there needs to be consequences to their actions and there were none in this season.

A new level of vulgarity is used when Kurt and Finn are sharing a room when they move in together because they’re parents are dating and Finn uses a highly offensive gay term to describe a lamp or something, and Burt comes in and gets onto Finn for the language and kicks him out. Kurt doesn’t quite understand, but every time someone does something to Kurt and Burt KNOWS about it, he does something about, unlike MOST characters.

In Season 2, the slushing is still happening and people still look the other way, teachers included. During “Britney/Brittany,” Kurt just tells Mr. Schue to loosen up, and gets sent to the Principal’s Office, nothing comes of it, yet, slushing, etc. is okay? Karofsky begins terrorizing Kurt to a whole other level and one instance, Mr. Schue brings him into his office to talk about, (first time for everything, huh?) acknowledging that he knows about it and says something to the nature of ‘you typically let it roll off your back, but now you’re becoming belligerent,’ etc as a result. Wouldn’t you, if no one was there helping you, and you only had yourself to rely on? But shouldn’t you also be talking to the person doing the bullying as well, not just the victim?

Furthermore, in the “Never Been Kissed” episode, the bullying towards Kurt via Karofsky comes to a new level, as we find out that Karofsky himself may be gay, and when Kurt confronts him about his bullying of him, Karofsky forcefully kisses him, and then later proceeds to threaten to kill him if he tells anyone. Fearful, Kurt keeps it to himself, terrified. Until, his father Burt sees a gesture that Karofsky makes to Kurt and is forced to tell him about the threat, but Finn had just stood by and let it happen just like the teachers. It took Burt going to the Principal, at this point it was Sue, and she expelled Karofsky, but then the school board overruled it. A school board that idly sits by and is pretty much condoning the fact that Karofsky threatened to kill a fellow student, by claiming it’s a figure of speech. What if I “figuratively” say I’m going to put my foot in your ass? This resulted in Kurt transferring to Dalton in order to escape bullying, but EVERY school should be safe for all students no matter what circumstances are afforded to each individual student.

Santana and Karofsky start “The Bully Whips” to gain sympathy votes for Prom King and Queen, and to ensure Kurt transfers back for Nationals. However, at Prom with an overwhelming number of write in votes Kurt wins Prom Queen, and he eventually ends up going back in there and accepting it as a highly confident person, the person we know, love, and admire for everything he stands for. My issue with this is when Principal Figgins saw who won, he read it even though he shouldn’t have, because that just ensured that the bullying would continue. Most of all there were no consequences to this incident, making it seem as though what the class did by writing in Kurt’s name was okay. This was also one of the last incidents or episodes that we hear about “The Bully Whips.”

Onward to Season 3, in which thus far as of episode 12, “The Bully Whips” have not been mentioned again. Karofsky transferred to another school, so he wouldn’t have to be ridiculed for being a closeted gay, because he still thinks Kurt’s going to out him. So, we don’t have any bullying from Karofsky so far this season. However, when we meet Rory for the first, he’s being pushed into lockers, his cell phone is being knocked out of his hand and being picked on because he’s from Ireland. By the end of the episode, Finn finally stands up to the Hockey Jocks and helps out Rory. This was just another instance of Finn just standing by and allowing others to be bullied.

Mercedes tells off Mr. Schue in an episode and gets kicked out of New Directions, but her confrontation was way worse than what Kurt had said last season and yet, he was sent to the office. Doesn’t seem fair does it? Rachel gets suspended for stuffing the ballad box to ensure Kurt wins the student election, she gets suspended and banned from competing at Sectionals after admitting to it. This is the only instance where there were consequences for a students’ actions at school.

However, the instance in this season that had me reeling was when Sebastian slushes Blaine, and we later find out it was laced with rock salt. All Mr. Schue does is tells Figgins and Dalton’s Headmaster. Kurt doesn’t want to fight violence with violence, understandable, but when Santana has audio of Sebastian admitting to putting rock salt into the slushy, Kurt doesn’t want to turn it in, because he wants to see their faces when New Directions beat them at Regionals. What puzzles me is the fact that Blaine, who now has to have surgery due to the slushy, has no say in what happens. He took the slushy for Kurt, pushing Kurt out of the way. I loved when Artie goes off on Mr. Schue, even though he’s just told to cool off, unlike the others who have told off Mr. Schue.

This is the conversation that went down:

"Look, Figgins and I spoke to Dalton’s headmaster," Will says. "They’re opening up an investigation. So guys, I’m telling you, please let the system handle this one." -Mr. Schue

"No! Dalton’s old school, Mr. Schue. They’re not going to turn their back on one of their own. They need payback."-Artie

"An eye for an eye."-Mike

"No! I have a zero tolerance policy for violence of any kind," Will says. "That’s not how we do things."-Mr. Schue

“No, we sing and that’s all we do.”-Artie

“Do you want to get disqualified from Regionals?”-Mr. Schue

“I don’t give a damn about Regionals! We’re people, what do you expect of us? The world may not see us like that, but when they tease us, and throw stuff at us, and toss us in dumpsters and tell us we’re nothing but losers with stupid dreams, it freaking hurts. And we’re supposed to be the bigger person and turn the other cheek? And be the bigger man and tell ourselves that those dreams and how hard we work, makes us better than them. But it gets pretty hard to feel that way, when they always get to win.”-Artie

"I get how upsetting this is for you…”-Mr. Schue

"No! You don’t! And don’t give me any of that 'it gets better' crap, because I’m not interested in it getting any better. I want it to be better, like right now. I want to hurt them the way they hurt us. No, worse. I want them to feel my pain because frankly, that’s all I have left to give."-Artie

I agree with Artie in this, I don’t believe in violence, but there are other ways to handle a situation like this without violence. This is the first instance where someone got physically hurt because of bullying, however, what happened to Dalton’s “No Bullying” policy. Santana should have turned the tape in. Do I think he should go to jail? Maybe not, but suspended, expelled, something needs to happen. For every action there’s a reaction, a consequence. We don’t really see any consequences for students actions. Yes, Puck was in juvie for stealing an ATM, yes Rachel, got suspended for stuffing the ballad box, and yes Karofsky got expelled, but remember the school board overruled it and reinstated him. So, putting rock salt into a slushy and causing them to have surgery because of it, and Kurt would rather teach them a lesson instead of punishing them, this was the only instance where I didn’t like what Kurt was doing and his intentions, I agree with Santana that the tape isn’t violent, it’s clever. Hopefully, she has a spare copy.

This instances are just a few of some major things that have happened on Glee, and how fellow students and teachers stand by and let these things happen, is disheartening, as is what went down in the article that I’m basing this off of. For a show, that reaches a wide array of audiences, especially the younger people, see a show where there aren’t any consequences to bullying and it makes you feel like you somehow deserve the torment you get, but you don’t. Every individual deserves to be safe, especially in school. You’re there to learn, to prepare for your future, but how can you if you’re being taunted, teased, shoved, picked on, etc. Your fellow peers are letting it happen, teachers are “blind” to it. It’s the teachers job, the school’s job to make sure the learning environment is safe for everyone, but teachers are afraid of losing their jobs because of various School Board Policies, but every district is very different, so results can vary.

There are no words to tell you how much it pains me to read, an article like the one I’m referencing where 9 kids killed themselves because of bullying, and most were LGBTQ. You should never have to feel ashamed of who you are, put down, you deserve to be loved and receive love in return.

So of fear of sounding repetitive I feel, I should leave it here. However, if you feel like you have no escape look to yourself, find who you are and whether you are proud of who you are, don’t let people belittle you, and please don’t take your life. You each have something to offer the world, even if you don’t see it yet. Believe in yourself, and you will prevail.

If you, ever need help and/or are considering taking your own live, please visit: thetrevorproject.org. Or call the Trevor Lifeline: 866-488-7386, it’s toll free and confidential.

Again, here’s the link to the 5 page article: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202

POTTERMORE!

Most of you may know of Pottermore already and the Magical Quill Challenge. This took place starting July 31st for 7 days for early registration and admittance into pottermore. I didn't know about this challenge until July 31st because I'd been without internet for a while, so I found a twitter account hp_batsignal that would tweet "lightning has struck" when the clue was posted. I set my mobile text for it to notify me when the next clue was posted, therefore, resulting in my getting up on Day 2 at 5am CST and registering.

I have EARLY ADMITTANCE INTO POTTERMORE!! Okay, so that's really not as exciting as it sounds. Because it's been a month already and I have yet to receive my Welcome Letter which will allow me on the site, and me getting sorted. Being that in a month EVERYONE else will be able to enter pottermore, it feels as though getting in early isn't going to be possible. I would also like to comment that I'm hoping that they're going by who registered first, especially when the first 3 days of the Magical Quill Challenge questions were the hardest and we had other Potter fans helping each other. (My sister registered on Day 3, and my friend on Day 6.)

I realize that we'll all get in eventually, but what's the point of having early registration if not everyone's able to get in? I also understand that letting all early registrants in at the same time will slow the site down, but it's already been a month-ish, and I'm anxiously awaiting my letter.

I've also heard of people getting sorted into the "wrong" house. I know that Rowling decided the quizzes for the sorting on Pottermore, but if I don't get into Hufflepuff, I'm going to throw a hissy fit. Okay, not really...but seriously.

If I don't get in soon, I'm going to get really angry, okay not angry, but close to it.

So Congrats to all who've gotten into pottermore. You can find me there: NimbusSun53

So...

Alright, it's half way through May, and I failed the BEDA I was attempting so busy. I'm in the process of packing up and moving in with some friends until we can move into our house in August. But I have some opinionated blogs coming; so keep a look out. For now, I have to get back to packing. This was just an update and I will do a blog on my Harry Potter class I took a couple years ago as someone requested recently.

Chao!

BEDA Day 2--What to talk about?

Day 2 of BEDA and I do believe before all is said and done, I may run out of topics to cover. I don't want to discuss Glee here that's what my Glee Thoughts and Recaps Blog is for. So, for all of you who may read this, if you have any topics or suggestions on what sorts of things you would like to hear about, enlighten me. Maybe I could even do some quick research on a topic of some sort and give you my thoughts and opinions of it.

Anyways, if I were to talk about my day it would just consist of me working 8 hours and doing laundry afterwards, nothing special. Of course, nothing special really ever happens here. However, as of right now according to the Digitour 2011, in which I have already purchased tickets, on May 8th in Lawrence, KS the Digitour will be coming and Starkid and Darren Criss are suppose to be there. Which is super cool. Wheezywaiter will be there, as well along with some others that I'm going to try to familiarize myself with before me and my friend go. Tickets were only $10 and Lawrence is only 1.5-ish hours away, not too terribly far. I'm super psyched, but if I get there and Starkid AND Darren Criss aren't there I'll be majorly upset. There's also a meet and greet afterwards, so maybe I'll end up with an autograph and picture with them. However, as long as I leave with a Darren picture and autograph I'll be perfectly satisfied, my life would be complete.

Well, my request on my collab channel sixisgreaterthanfive, someone wants me to blog about my Harry Potter class I took a few semesters ago. So, I think that's what I'll talk about tomorrow. Until then, DFTBA and I'll see you soon.

Hmmm...BEDA

As I've been gone all day. This is a very short blog. I'm going to attempt to do BEDA--Blog Every Day in April. I was going to attempt VEDA, but that would take too much time. So, here's an attempt. A real version of a blog will be up tomorrow, as I have 2 minutes of the day to post this.

See you tomorrow for Day 2 of BEDA!!