Monsters University

Happy Saturday to all! From my observations, summer seems to be the time where crappy movies are all released at the same time. Fortunately, there have been a few released recently that have broken my preconceived notions. One such movie is Monsters University.

Monsters University is a prequel to the 2001 Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. This film follows Mike Wazowski and his dream to become a professional scarer. Mike enrolls and Monsters University, and shortly after meeting James P. Sullivan (Sully,) they both get kicked out of the scarers program. Mike, Sully, and his new misfit friends compete in the school’s annual scaring competition to fight their way back into the program.  

I am not a fan of prequels or sequels, so I had low expectations going into this movie. Much to my surprise, I loved it. An appealing part of this film is that most of the original fans of Monsters, Inc. are in, or recently out, of college, so seeing the characters from the first film in a similar situation is enticing. Well played, Pixar. Well played. After seeing this movie, I am also 100 percent certain that if I went to Monsters University, Mike Wazowski would be my best friend. He is so gosh darn loveable.

Another highlight was the animated short at the beginning of the movie. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Pixar movies always have a short animated video preceding the actual film). This animated short was titled The Blue Umbrella. It was so good! The clip followed a blue umbrella through the streets of a busy city to find a red umbrella he is in love with. There was no speaking, and all of the characters were inanimate objects that came to life in the rain. I’m just flabbergasted by the fact that inanimate objects, incapable of speaking, can captivate an audience and make you feel emotion.

Overall, Monsters University was very entertaining. The movie was just plain fun to watch, and it was cool seeing how everyone from the first movie was in college. If you are a fan of Monsters, Inc., or even if you’re not, you should go see this movie. Fo’real. 

P.S. I linked the Monsters University website up above. It is like an actual college website, so you should check it out. Pretty cool stuff. 

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading :) 

That One Time My Blog Got Deleted

Happy Monday everyone! My sincerest apologies for my lack of posts lately. I do have a legitimate excuse, but it’s kind of a long story.

My high school assigned each student an email address set up through gmail. Blogger is set up through gmail, and so is YouTube, so when I started a YouTube channel, and then started this blog, my high school gmail account automatically hooked up with these two sites. When this syncing happened, I thought nothing of it, and carried on my merry way.

Unfortunately, one morning a few weeks ago, a day after posting my Ai Weiwei blog, I tried to log onto YouTube, only to find that my gmail account no longer existed. I soon realized that meant ALL of my blog posts on here were gone forever as well because, being the smart girl that I am, decided to not back up my posts anywhere and type them directly onto this site. Bad idea.

All of my blog posts, as well as my YouTube videos and subscriptions, were gone. After panicking and being angry for about two days, I emailed the tech people from my high school, explaining the situation. They were super helpful and reactivated my old account so I could recover my blog and link it with a new gmail account. Unfortunately, my YouTube channel cannot be easily transferred because of the way YouTube functions now, so I have to start over with that, meaning, if you were subscribed to me before, you will have to resubscribe in order to see my lovely face! (Click here for that link!)

My reaction to seeing my blog was GONE!

Thankfully, the blog transferred over without a hitch, and now I will get back on track with my writing! Sorry for the lull, but I will post regularly again so don’t fret! Most importantly, though, learn from my mistakes and back your shiz up!

Have a righteous week and thanks for reading :)

Ai Weiwei: According to What?

Happy Tuesday all! In a previous post, I mentioned that I saw an exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art by an artist named Ai Weiwei. The exhibit was incredibly inspiring, and convinced me that Ai Weiwei is a total bad ass.

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist from Beijing. He was born there and moved to the United States for a period of time, but moved back in 1993. Weiwei's work focuses on human rights and social change, which caused him trouble with the Chinese government, starting in 2009. Three years prior, Weiwei began blogging, commenting on the politics of China. After he began a project to collect names of over 5,000 children who were killed in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the government took notice.

His politically charged work and blog angered the government, prompting them to shut the blog down in 2009. Soon after, Weiwei was beaten by police, and later put on house arrest. In early 2011, his studio was destroyed by authorities, and he was secretly detained in April of that year. The government said he was detained for tax issues, but Weiwei denies that as the reason. He was kept for three months, and released, then released a documentary called Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry about his art and social activism, clearly showing that this run-in with the government would not change his art or ways of thinking.

Since his release, Weiwei has been carefully watched by the government, which is reflected in his work through a marble surveillance camera sculpture featured in the exhibit at the IMA, Ai Weiwei: According to What? His "fuck you" attitude is also reflected in his work through a series of photographs of him flicking off national monuments, as well as a series of photos where he smashes a Han Dynasty urn.

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn

He blatantly showcases his interactions with the government in the exhibit through a photo he took right after he was taken by the government,

Picture he took after he was arrested

as well as an enlarged photo of a scan of his swollen brain after being beaten.

He has gotten so much crap from the Chinese government for his work, he has been physically beaten, and has been detained for 81 days, yet he still produces work that speaks to what he believes in. Ai Wewei is a total bad ass. There is no other way to put it. He sticks to his guns and produces controversial work, no matter the consequence, because it provides commentary on issues he thinks are important. As an artist of any sort, that is the main thing one strives for. Seeing him achieve his goal, despite physical consequences, is inspiring beyond belief. I could honestly talk about the exhibit for many more paragraphs, but I don't want to make this post too long. Instead, check out this really great video John Green made about the exhibit.

If you live near Indianapolis, please, please go see the exhibit! It will be at the IMA until July 21st, and costs $12, but it is so worth the money.

Have a great week, and thanks for reading :)

Books

Happy Wednesday to all. Since summer has been in full swing for about a month, and I am starting to feel slightly guilty about sitting around the house all day watching television, I have started sitting around the house all day reading books. Here's what I've been reading lately:

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins: I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I finally read The Hunger Games. I didn't love the first book, (probably because I saw the movie and already knew what was going to happen) but I loved, loved the second. I also really enjoyed how the third book ended, although a lot of people weren't happy with it. The series is very easy to get through, so if you've even considered reading it, I'd say go for it.

2. Looking for Alaska by John Green: I read The Fault in Our Stars by Green earlier this year and enjoyed it. After reading that book, I discovered he and his brother Hank run the YouTube channel called VlogBrothers. I checked it out and it is a good time, so I decided to read another book by him. Looking for Alaska is about a 16-year-old kid who goes away to boarding school and meets some pretty cool people. The first part of the book wasn't super great, but the last half or so was enjoyable.

3. Peanut by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe: This is a graphic novel about a girl who starts at a new school and pretends to be allergic to peanuts. I read a few graphic novels in one of my classes this past year, and loved them, so I thought I would give this one a go. Unfortunately I did not love it. The story was a little weak, but I did enjoy the graphics.

4. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon: This book is a ten step guide to becoming more creative and gaining inspiration. Kleon is an artist, as well as a writer, so he has so many great ideas for inspiration, and he understands the way a creative mind works. I'm about halfway done with this book, but it is so incredibly inspiring, I just get jazzed thinking about it. If you're a creatively minded person, or want more creativity in your life, please please read this book!

5. Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith: This is another book for creative minded people, or someone who needs to lose some control in their life. This book is essentially a journal with simple instructions of what to record on each page. The pages range from instructions to draw circles, to putting a string around the book and taking it for a walk, to using it as a napkin and wiping your food on a page. This is another incredibly inspiring book and I can't wait to fill each page with whatever my heart desires!

A sample page from Wreck this Journal

Next on my list is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, so I will most likely blog about that in the nearish future. Have a great week and thanks for reading :) 

Music Monday: The Flight of the Conchords

Happy Monday to all! My cousin recently recommended that I watch the HBO show The Flight of the Conchords. Since his recommendation, I have been feverishly watching, and just finished the first season. I am legitimately obsessed.

The show is based around the real life band The Flight of the Conchords, but is a satirized version of their real lives. Since the show is about a band, every episode has at least one of the band's songs. The show stars the real-life members of the band, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement, who play comedic versions of themselves on the show. The band, along with their band manager Murray, is from New Zealand, so there is an added bonus of hearing fun accents while you're watching.

This show is absolutely hilarious and showcases very dry, subtle humor, which I think is the best kind. Bret constantly quits the band and wears funny crew neck sweatshirts with animals on them, while Jermaine interacts awkwardly with most people he meets and wears collared shirts and blazers, reminiscent of a disco man.

Literally everything about this show is perfect. It is really quirky and weird, and the songs the guys sing are absolutely hilarious and tie into whatever is happening in their lives. Unfortunately, the show only lasted for two seasons. If you like humor similar to that in Napoleon Dynamite (my favorite movie,) you will love Flight of the Conchords as much as I do.

Have a great week and thanks for reading :)

A Trip to Indiana

Happy Saturday to all! Sorry I have not been posting too much on here. I have a lot of stuff I want to talk about, so I will most certainly get back to posting several times a week.

Earlier this week, I went to Westfield, Indiana to visit my (former) roommate, Ashni, as well as my good friends Katie and Brandon. It was so, so great to see the three of them because I missed them quite a bit. On the second day of my visit, Ashni, Katie, and I went out to lunch with my (former) RA, Kelly.

Katie, Ashni, and me

Ashni and I became great friends with Kelly this past year, and since Katie was always in our room, she did too. After we went out to lunch, we went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I went and saw the Ai Wei Wei exhibit, and it was glorious! I am going to blog about that next week, so keep an eye out for that!

After the museum, we took Kelly back to Butler where she is taking summer classes and being an RA for the other summer class takers on campus. Being back at school, even for a short amount of time, was really refreshing. I am quite enjoying being home, but I deeply missed my friends from school.

Kelly, me, and Ashni

Highlights from the trip: 1. When at lunch with Kelly, I had an allergic reaction of sorts to what I was eating. My throat and lips were really tingly and tickly. It was strange.
2. When driving home on Thursday night, I was caught in a treacherous rainstorm!! There was no rain for a very long time, then I drove under a little bridge underpass, and when I emerged, the downpour began! It was intense.

Have a righteous weekend, and thanks for reading :)