How To Get Away With Murder

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

Crazy thing happened last night. The winter finale of How To Get Away With Murder. At the end of season one, we found out who killed Sam Keating (Wes) and during the winter finale it all came together and we found out #whoshotannalise.

But either way the winter finale of How To Get Away With Murder is totally messed* up. Now every main character on this show is either dead (killed by one of the main characters) or a straight up murderer/killer. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Asher killed Sinclair, Bonnie killed Rebecca, Nate killed his wife, Wes killed Sam and shot Annalise, Michaela, Laurel, and Connor all helped Wes dispose of Sam's body, Frank has killed god knows who, and the topper is that Annalise has been help everyone cover up their tracks and not go to jail.
At first I was really intrigued with this show. I mean who doesn't want to know "how to get away with murder," but after watching this first season and a half it's gotten completely ridiculous. These people are supposed to be lawyers fighting for justice, but they're going around killing people! From my point of view this show has become completely unrealistic. The police would have to find finger prints, shoe tracks, or just something that would tie this group to one of the murders they have committed.
How To Get Away With Murder is just one of those shows that you give up. It's like a car crash. You really want to look away but you can't. The winter finale made me really uncomfortable because we pretty much see Annalise go completely nuts/bonkers/crazy/choose your own word. Throughout the episode we see her just break down at the camera pans around her in a circle. Then she shuts down her emotions and deals with the body of Sinclair. By the end, in the last scene, she baits everyone who dealt with Sam's body, Michaela, Wes, Connor, and Laurel, to shoot her, so that they can acquit Catherine Hapstall, for a murder case they have been backing. This scene is the most powerful one of the entire show in my opinion because Connor and Michaela don't want to take part in the murder but Annalise just drags them back in by baiting them. This had me shocked because you saw the good in them being overpowered by Annalise and you just want her to get shot already.
 Finally, Annalise makes Wes shoot her by telling him that Rebecca was dead the whole season. We already knew this since the premiere of season two but Wes didn't know and had been searching for her, thinking she bolted. But instead of shooting Annalise in the leg like she wanted, he shot her in the stomach, a place that could get her killed. This was forceful because you saw the "good" go out of Wes's eyes when he shot her. Almost as though he wasn't him for a second, just like Asher when he killed Sinclair.
Anyways, if you haven't started watching How To Get Away With Murder, I recommend it but be weary at the same time because once you start it's hard to stop.
*A very different word could be used here

Hair Goals

Let's be honest this post is very off topic compared to the rest of my blog, but it has something to do with pop culture so let's go for it!

I don't know if where any of you live people are changing their hair color but where I live and where I go to school it's becoming somewhat of a trend. I noticed that after returning to school this year many of my friends are dying their hair in some way, shape, or form. Of course, during this past summer and throughout this fall I've been dying my hair also. From red, to burgundy with purple tips, to full on lavender, and finally blue, are the stages of my hair color. But I don't plan on stopping now. Next, probably before Thanksgiving I'm deciding to dye my hair gray with black roots.

Then there are the "crazy" hairstyles. For example, the undercut is something of a drastic change. It's also a new trend that is waving through my school, at least from my perspective. I also have joined the bandwagon for the adventurous hairstyles. I impulsively decided to shave off the bottom part of my head and get an undercut one early Sunday morning. But that's not the point.
 If you ever want to do a crazy hair style like shave off the side of your head, or get a crazy hair color, don't be afraid! After a sudden realization today, I know that it's my goal to inspire people to be daring with their style and just embrace those crazy ideas of yours. My friend claimed she was inspired by me when shaved off the side of her head, getting an undercut, and chopped of several inches in doing so, also getting a pixie. Two other friends have been inspired to dye the ends of their hair pink, dip-dying it. Whatever hairstyle or color compels you, do it! Hair will always grow back eventually and you can always dye it back to the normal brunette, blond, black, or redhead you naturally are!

THE HOLIDAYS ARE TAKING OVER

Okay, so this may not be your average post from me, but this topic was on my mind. Every year it seems like the holidays are getting earlier and earlier every year. I was speaking to a teacher of mine and she confirmed the fact that they are indeed getting earlier every year. She had said that after going to a department store the previous week to loose for those fake leaves, that they had taken them down in late August. I mean shouldn't you be able to buy fall decor while it's still fall? November is not winter, yet there is still Thanksgiving. Which if I'm not delusional is considered a fall holiday, as is Halloween.
Black Friday is another holiday takeover. The minute November begins the ads for "Black Friday all month" begin. Companies trying to sell the fact that shopping there is not like those crazy department stores on Black Friday, I wonder is they get much business. They emphasizing on the fact that their Black Friday sales work differently than department store sales. For example, the other day I saw a car dealership commercial with a Black Friday ad. Obviously a car dealership works differently than a department store. During Black Friday people have to be orderly at a car dealership and car dealerships don't have cashiers like department stores.
Anyways, back on topic. Christmas especially, is getting earlier and earlier every year. The day of Halloween stores are putting out Christmas items. Then the commercials begin to takeover TV. At first they are just for things about meals, like HyVee has a commercial airing I believe. Then the kids toys, electronics, and material Christmas gift commercials begin to air. Finally, the radio it overthrown. Any public radio station, the minute it's Thanksgiving or December first, has every Christmas song you have ever heard. At first these songs are fond memories and get you in the Christmas cheer, but then they get so annoying.
Either way things are getting ridiculous. I am so annoyed at Corporate America. They just keep pushing advertising seasons earlier and earlier until it gets to the point where I can't go around in late October without seeing Christmas decorations everywhere. Holiday advertisement is getting overdone and many people don't even enjoy how early this advertising is, so why do it, is my question.

The Love Triangle

We all are familiar with this topic I assume? Recycled, I know, I know. Let's see if I can put an interesting twist on the matter.
The infamous love triangle, it's been done time and time again. Is it truly a bad thing though? While we may get very sick of it, we all know why it's a reoccurring topic. We love love triangles. They are like that addiction to Netflix, Youtube, that special book you're reading, caffeine, whatever you're addicted to. We crave love triangles because of their impossibility. I mean come on, who is going to have to guys pining for them at the same time and be attracted to both of them? I mean I would say it applies for the opposite gender but...
Anyways we love them because they are unrealistic. Take Twilight and Hunger Games for instance. We all should know these stories, correct? Epic love triangle between the main girl and her two best guy friends? These books are fiction. This would never happen in real life. Plus to add the fact that both of these stories incorporate vampires and a radical dystopian society.
We crave these unreachable love triangles the same way we crave reading fiction, given the fact that fiction normally has a sort of romance or love triangle. They may seem a tad ridiculous and annoying but as I have said repeatedly we will always love them whether we know it or not, or just want to deny it.

How to Make the Best Characters Ever

My fellow blogger Cory wrote a post about how to make a good character. I am here not to steal his topic just to put a good spin on the subject.
In order to make a characters your readers or viewers will like, you have to make them relatable. This is step one, the building blocks, the foundation, to how you make your character. I have to care about their well-being, right off the bat. Give them traits I will understand. Like being popular or unpopular, being extremely athletic or just down-right clumsy, those kinds of things.
You have to give the audience a backstory. If I don't know about the characters past, how am I supposed to judge them for the future? Viewers and readers alike love getting that little piece of background on the character. While it may not be the most interesting thing in the world, it builds character. Ha, see what I did there?
Give the character fears. Nothing makes a viewer/reader believe a character to be more human than giving them something that makes them unable to sleep at night. If you are fearless, you're less relatable because no sensible human is without their fair share of fears. But alas, the inevitable time will come where in order to keep us on the edge of our seats, you have to make that character face their worst fear. It makes us worry on end, thus investing all of our attention and emotion.
Finally you have to put them in great danger. This somewhat goes with making the character face their greatest fear because they can be one and the same. Most regular people, like your audience, don't like the idea of imminent danger. This can sometimes be our greatest fear. Thus by putting in an event that puts that character in great danger, it puts us on the edge of our seats and worrying greatly for that character.
I hope these tips help you build a great character profile and in turn help you build an amazing story for your audience!

The 100

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS
Looking for a good dystopian drama? This show will satisfy your craving. It has blood lust, death, intrigue, and much more. Honestly this show is like a lot of dystopian shows out there but myself being easily impressed, I fell in love with this drama.
With season two being released on Netflix, I knew what I was doing for the next week and weekend. I just finished the second season and I have to say, while I wasn't surprised with the overall ending. There was one thing at the end that just bothered the heck out of me. But we'll get to that, first I have to give a brief summary of the show.
A show about 100 juvenile delinquents being flow from outer space, to the ground of a radiation-filled Earth, this show has plot-twists galore. But if you've seen season one, or the introduction season, you've seen nothing yet. The second season starts with Clarke being in an all white room, obviously in some sort of medical center. Of course, Clarke escapes and gets back to her people. But throughout the show we lose quite a few people. We lose Finn, who Clarke kills, we almost lose Clarke's mom Abby and the former commander Marcus Kane, plus a few times we lost Lincoln (but he came back), and finally we lose Maya, the love interest of Jasper.
But at the end of season two when Clarke decides to leave the camp because it causes her too much grief I nearly lost it. Clarke had killed Finn, a bunch of grounders and her own people, and all of the citizens of Mount Weather to get her friends back to her camp, just to leave? I was so done, but the she said how she bears the grief so that the others don't have to. In turn, I thought that was very noble of her. But again I nearly lost it when she said "May we meet again," and Bellamy said it back to her, both heading in opposite directions.
I'm sorry for those reading this who haven't seen the 100 or those who haven't seen the second season of the 100. I just really needed to express my likes and dislikes about season two due to my just finishing the show. Now all I have to do it wait for the third season!

How To Get Through That Reading Slump

Have you ever been so busy you just don't have time for reading? Well I am currently in the position and am here to help you fellow wayward readers back on track with reading or how to cope with your reading slump.
Most people either truly love reading and get sad when they don't get the time to read or they just don't like reading and don't read much in the first place, resulting in them not caring. But to help myself cope I find other means to get my creative fill. I will listen to music, watch Netflix before I fall asleep, or on the weekends I will watch a movie. Some of you are probably like, "How can you not read a book during the weekend?" Well, most of my books are parts of a series. And me being me, I have to read the other books to recap what I don't remember. Thus this taking more time than just two days, because I am a slow reader.
If you haven't noticed my blogging about Netflix has gotten pretty ridiculous, this being because I don't have the time to read. But generally blogging about reading, Netflix, and movies helps me unleash my creative side and that is another factor of my coping to not being able to read. It also doesn't help being forced to read from a list of "classic literature" at school, which is pretty much another way of saying that they're making us read the most boring pieces ever. This is yet another factor of the Slump. If you are really desperate to find a way to cope with your reading loss, take on another creative activity. This may also be the reason you are in a reading slump, well that and work. I am blessed to be able to express my creative side through dance, but this is also another reason I don't have the time to read.
I guess the point of this post was to explain that while I may be extremely busy I am trying to find the  time to read. It can be hard to find that time window but if you try hard enough you can find it or learn to cope. Whatever you have going on, or not, I hope you all find that special time to read and get a perfect book to do so.