January 2019

Sick on Dry January...

If you don't know what Dry January is well it's pretty much a month where you restrain yourself from drinking any alcoholic drink... I'll find a way to drink nonetheless, Dry Cider? Dry Wine? Dry Gin? 

Every year, people set goals, resolutions and I'm sure many achieve what they come up with, but I ain't one these people. I tend to mess up and give up if I write too long of a list. One at a time is best... This year, Dry January kind of came at the right time with me being sick.

I caught a bad cold that gave me a touch time with back and neck issues. Coughing, stuffy nose (I can't sleep right when my breathing isn't there). Anyways, you get what the entire "sick" part means. 

Not sure if I underestimate the weather in France, but the cold is different from where I was. And trust me, Ireland's cold is rather better a little less humid if I may say. So I had to buy myself a better scarf and two sweaters because I can live on sweaters. 

Not entirely sure what I want from 2019, I expected things to go differently in 2018 so now... I have to set my new future right, get my things organized, think about the long journey I have ahead; if you have any suggestions on how to manage it all, please feel free to comment. I want help! I need help!

All I know is that even if obstacles comes through, I'll make it alright... 

Actually, it reminds me of 'The Blind Side' with Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Tim McGraw, Lily Collins and Jae Head. The film is about a white, Christian family that takes a young coloured kid into their home, give him a family he can count on. 

Let's move on from the whole what it is about to how important and how life lessons were given. First, it's based on a real story which makes it even sadder or happier. Watch the film then you will understand how much crying will happen. 

Second, despite colour skin and different backgrounds, a family changed a young kid's life just like he changed theirs. 

And finally, despite what others may say, think or do, believe what you are doing is the right thing. The mother took a huge decision, the family had to make choices, the kid, himself, had to manage changes. That woman deserves a lot more credit, people such as this family deserve credit. It's wonderful to be there for someone who needs it. 

If you haven't watched this film, go watch it, it has to be on Netflix or stream it. It deserves a watch or read (it's also a book). I truly admire the family, admire what they achieved, how far they have come even with obstacles, they kept going...

And to keep on going can be hard at times... 

This is why 2019 may not be my year, but I will make it mine. I will give all my best to make it an 'alright' year, a successful year. Tough one ahead, but nothing good comes easy! You should remember that! 

For now, I'll try to survive this bloody cold, noisy cough, and unbearable stuffy nose. If you are sick yourself, ginger and honey help. For me, it's tea and chocolate... But if you have a pint of Guinness go ahead it will make you feel better! 

Happy New Year!

~Bella

Darker or lighter...

Fifty Shades Darker

A two-hour long movie, the second after the phenomenal one, Fifty Shades of Grey...

Who remembers watching the first one? I don't mostly cause I didn't want to go see it as I have read all three books.

Comments from my dear mother, " I laughed at the entire movie, no erotic scenes except for one or two and again not erotic."
"The discussions between both parties were unsuccessful and boring."
"The blond wasn't around much, barely showed any presence or personality, nothing about the past."
" No foreplay, compare to the first which was the discovery, you could expect more in the second, but no..."
"Tons of questions, accidents? I believe it's plain idiotic."
" The trailer made us wait a year, saying that it was going to be fantastic, more sex, more than the first one... And no, just plain deception!"

My mother could go and on about the comments, the complaints, and sadly, she hasn't found anything good to say about the movie.

To me... I laughed at a few scenes, left at the end of the movie for personal issues, but still didn't miss the last scenes because I thought the actors were doing poorly. There was no chemistry, no feeling, no discussions. No real speeches, no talk, the whole movie was boring. Usually, when I go to the movies, I laugh at different times than Americans, while this time, we laughed at the same time. It was idiotic, nothing erotic, no sex scenes whatsoever. We both got disappointed, even my mother's friend, laughed out loud.

When books are made into movies, some will love it, others will just be disappointed. It's different for everyone, and this time, I preferred the novel instead of the movie. I've always tried to comprehend the way movie directors work, tried to think that movies cannot be the exact same as novels. You can't recreate each single phrase of a novel into a movie. It's nearly impossible to make it the same. When you read, it's one person reading not many, and the way you may read the story is our you are feeling throughout the words, the phrases, each expression, and emotion are created by yourself. A movie, on the contrary, has already some type of emotion, feelings. You cannot create your own as you watch the film, so I always try to watch it with an open mind, leaving the book on the side. Easy, you think, but no, it's harder than anything else. When you have read the books, watching it may be harder because you already know what will happen and then sometimes movies just don't get the same emotions as the novel. It's different... Then again, usually, they try to make the movie as perfect as possible. Sadly, this time, the movie was beyond idiotic leaving me speechless about how awful the movie was made. Nudity isn't something Americans let out too often in films, you won't see much in any films while in Europe having some nudity is part of the deal... So when I went to see Fifty Shades Darker, I expected not much nudity but enough to make a woman aroused, but no... Nothing, no nudity except a few little things, again barely anything... 
It's ironic to see that the movie is categorized in the Erotic category when there was barely any nudity or sex scenes, whatsoever. It's quite painful to watch, nothing pleasurable about it. 

I went online to read articles about the film, and at my biggest surprised many articles talked about the idea and the idiocy of how the movie turned out.  Some articles just said, "It's not terrible, just timid..."
Other articles like this one:  https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/02/fifty-shades-darker-a-spoilereview/516204/

Again, everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, leaving me to have my own as well... 
Fifty Shades Darker isn't a movie to go watch in the movie theater. It is disappointing and a waste of money. Wait until it's on a streaming website because you'll want to just get refunded for such an idiotic movie. 

"The result was a very bad movie, but one considerably less bad than the book it was based on." - Christopher Orr 

~Bella

Run for your life...

I don't know about you, but I've been having a year of wanting to watch scary movies! 

Scary movies... 

The idea of being chased by a murdered, the chills running through your body, the unbearable thought that someone is watching your every move from the kitchen window, the sleepless night spent wondering if you have a ghost in the room with you, the horrible feeling you get that something will give you a jump scare... 
These movies have been around for a long time, and each time you may see similarities between them all. The tension, creating the mystery, suspense, gore, terror, or shock, make up the basic of a horror film. When you watch a film, you see how the director uses fear and unrealistic graphic to make us jump off our seats! Somehow the background music that starts playing when the woman is running away from her killer is just another way to get the viewer attracted, less distracted by its surrounding, wanting to make them feel the jump scare coming. 

There are 4 categories of horror watching:

 - Gore watching, characterized by low empathy, high sensation seeking, and in males a strong identification with the killer. 
- Thrill watching, high empathy and high sensation seeking- motivated by the suspense of the film and more identification with the victims. 
- Independent watching, high empathy for the victim with a high positive effect of overcoming fear.
- Problem watching, high empathy for the victim but characterized by negative effect- a sense of helplessness. 

I'm more a mix between the independent watching and problem watching! I usually know how to get the problem fix, how the victim will either escape or die... But I'm also one who will be so terrorized by the fear that is overcoming me that I will just throw "They are going to die, there's no way out!" 

My very first scary movie that I watched with my cousin was Amityville (2005) with Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George. Great movie, great background story, and the suspense is here. For a first, and at a young age, it was purely horrifying! Had nightmares for years! The movie is based on a real-life tragedy that hit a family back in the 70's. The oldest child (adult) executed his 4 siblings and parents after saying he was hearing voices telling him to kill. Later on, another family come and stay in the same house. Things were getting strangers, the father was hearing voices as well, and well they had to leave. Now it's a haunted place with souls are angry! To be fair, I had to learn the truth behind the movie and book because I was too afraid it would happen in my family. Young me was so determined to find what was going on with the house, with the guy, with everything that I spent an entire year searching, learning, and watching documentaries about the families and house itself. It's a chilling story, and I have to admit it's my favorite scary movie maybe cause it's my first one. 

Couple days after watching Amityville I get to watch another one, The Ring with Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson. Another one which gave me nightmares for days. I related to the girl in the movie, long black hair... I have to admit the movie was kind of creepy in every way. It's about a journalist who investigates an odd videotape who is related to the murders of people who watches it. They usually die after a week...
Another videotape type of scary movie! The fear was intense, insane amount of jump scare, and the idea that the girl was behind me, watching my every move made it even scarier! I would look behind my shoulders to see if I didn't wake the dead or something. I highly discourage 10-11 years old kids to watch any scary movies unless you want nightmares for the next couple years!
I had a couple years between the next other scary movies, two was enough to haunt me at night for a long time. The ones I recently watched and absolutely loved were Krampus (folk story) made me jump off the bed many many times, the Scream series (1-4) can't get enough of them even though they aren't as scary, and finally Evil Dead. That last one gave me chills, I don't even think I ended up sleeping that night! I almost threw up four times, passed out because the amount of blood in the movie is insanely a lot and the story at the end... Come on! I was freaking out, but I did like to watch it, once is enough, though, don't try and watch it with me again! I'm done! 

I've seen plenty more and trying to watch others, it's starting to become an addiction! 

Have you had that scary movie passage? What are the ones you love to watch? I'm interested in knowing what are some good ones you have seen!

"Watching a horror movie and thinking, 'No! Don't kill him, he's cute!' " 

~Bella