Step Up Movies: A New-found Obsession

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here, but I really love to dance. It's a passion of mine and brings me immense joy. The Step Up movie series showcases a whole crap ton of dancing. These movies follow different groups of dancers who know each other one way of the other. The premise of each movie is that the group decides that they want to form a crew and compete at some competition. The crew works really hard at a combination (dance) and rehearses a whole ton. Then, at some part the crew faces some sort of difficult challenge that sets them back and won't let them compete. But after hard work they somehow find a way to compete. At the competition they kick the other teams butts (would've used a stronger word but some readers might now appreciate that)  and win the competition.
But lets skip through the boring parts. Easily, the best part of the movies are the dance numbers aka when they are dancing. Not only can the actors act, but they are also really good dancers, of course. To me there is nothing better than watching a good dancer do what they do best. Plus, it totally helps that many of the dancers/actors are extremely good looking. But the worst part about this new Step Up movie obsession is that they aren't even new. Step Up came out in 2006, Step Up 2: The Streets came out in 2008, Step Up 3D came out in 2010, Step Up Revolution (MY FAVORITE) came out in 2012, and finally Step Up: All In came out in 2014, already two years old.
So basically what I'm trying to say here is, I am a totally obsessed when it comes to dance movies. As a matter of fact, Step Up Revolution is the movie that inspired me to get back into dancing, after my eight year "break." In all actuality, I quit dancing because I hated it so much- not dancing as a whole, just Ballet and putting makeup on for the recitals. That was very off topic. Anyways, as a conclusion I'd like to say that my Step Up movie obsession is what I would like to think of as a reflection of my love for dance.

Are Newspapers Going Out Of Style?

How do you learn about the news nowadays? Do you sit in front of a TV and watch it? Do you go on one of your many apps and find it? Do you go on the internet and find it? Notice how I never once mentioned getting news from a newspaper. They may deliver it to your doorstep every day, courtesy of your local newspaper and broadcasting network, but hardly anyone under 20 reads the newspaper.
Our generation has grown up in a digital age. For as long as we have been alive, there have been phones, televisions, the internet, etc. While normal print books and novels may never go out of style, newspaper readers and sales have plummeted within the last few years. This is due to the fact nowadays you don't actually need to go and purchase a paper copy of the newspaper, when you can just go to your phone, google any news network, and look at what is happening on the news, right there on your screen.
The main reason that newspaper sales are declining isn't that the older generations have quit buying them, because they haven't, it's because the younger generations are carrying on those same traditions. Like many other things, I think that newspapers and reporters are going to have to adapt to the younger generations and put their stories online, so that journalism doesn't die out like the newspaper eventually will.

The DUFF: A Review

I think we all can relate to the movie the DUFF. The main character is this tomboyish girl who loves flannel, is fairly antisocial, and is considered to be not the most attractive girl in her friend group. In the DUFF, Bianca (tomboy main character) is forced to “realize” that she is the DUFF in her friend group. DUFF stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend. Based on the movie title this movie does not disappoint. Bianca ends up going to her childhood best friend for guy advice and in the end she ends up falling for him not her original crush. 

Lollapalooza 2016!!!

As of Tuesday of this week the lineup for Lolla this year and tickets went on sale! For those of you who don't know what Lollapalooza is, it is a music festival in Grant Park, Chicago. They play mainly indie/alternative music with the exception of a few headliners that tend to flow into the mainstream music a bit. But those artists are exceptional, for example Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the headliners this year. The reason that this year is so special is because for one, it's my first year going! Plus it's the 25th anniversary of Lollapalooza so they're pulling out all of the stops. They are having all of the best bands this year, in my opinion.

This year due to the 25th anniversary, instead of having just the standard three days of bands playing, they're having four. Normally it's just Friday through Saturday, but this year they're adding a Thursday! In addition to the extra day, they're having all of the best bands play everyday. Plus did I mention that this is going to be the first year that I'm going to Lollapalooza? To show you just how excited I am about Lollapalooza, I'm going to give you a list of all of the bands I want to see and what days they will be playing on.
Thursday:

• Lana Del Rey
• Flosstradamus
• Bastille 
• Daughter
• Yeasayer
• Melanie Martinez
• The 1975
• Wavves

Friday: 

• Major Lazer
• M83
• Miike Snow
• MØ
• Saint Motel

Saturday:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Disclosure
• Two Door Cinema
• Grimes
• Big Grams
• St. Lucia
• X Ambassadors
• Jack Garratt
• Alina Baraz
• The Joy Formidable
• Chairlift

Sunday:

• LCD Soundsystem
• Ellie Goulding
• Years and Years
• Oh Wonder
• Marian Hill
• Låpsley
• Haim
• Bloc Party
• Zhu 
• Seven Lions
• Halsey

United States of Tara

A story line following a mother of two with Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder and her crazy family, United States of Tara will peak your interest. While it isn't a new show (2009-2011), it shows a comedic perspective on what it would be like to live the life of someone who lives with this disorder. Spoiler alert, while the entire series is good as a whole, but the ending was complete crap. It was as if they didn't know how to wrap things up and make a good ending. But that's just my personal opinion.

United States of Tara is a unique show because not only does it follow Tara's life but it follows Buck, Alice, T, and more [alters]. Plus there is Marshal or Moosh, Tara's gay son, Max, Tara's also somewhat psychotic husband, Kate, Tara's misguided teenage daughter who is just trying to figure out her place in the world, and Charmaine, Tara's sister that has stuck by her crazy sister's side throughout their lives. My main reason for loving this show is the characters listed above. The plot is a little shaky at times but knowing these guys will be there makes it all worth while, even that dumb ending I was telling you about. 

The underlying plot to the entire series is that Tara is trying to figure out what happened in her childhood to cause the Dissociative Identity Disorder. I won't give away whether she discovers the truth or not but I'll tell you this: In the end, Tara realizes that she is just straight up crazy and needs to get some serious help, not try to cure herself. Spoiler alert, she does!

Nothing much more to say than what I've just explained in the paragraphs above, just that United States of Tara is worth your time, except be prepared for a lackluster ending.

A Review of Room

Realistic. Terrifying. Heartwarming. Heartbreaking. These are the four best words I could find that would best describe Room. A movie about a young mother and her son, Room accurately portrays a situation we all fear to some degree, being kidnapped. After being kidnapped at 17, Joy is kept in a shed and continually raped, when she gives birth to Jack, who spends five years of his life in "Room," which is basically his whole world. We get to see how Joy has had to hide the fact that her and Jack are abducted from her son, because of his age. The story follows the experiences that these two face, and the affect that being kidnapped has taken on their mental health and lives in general.
I really enjoyed this movie because I've had a life long fear of being kidnapped, as surely we all do, and found the ideology and decisions made by the characters to be very realistic sounding. Plus I've always enjoyed a good thriller, where the good guys always wins, which this movie has. I don't want to give too much away but spoiler, Joy and Jack escape their captor! Another reason why I enjoyed this movie is because the acting and setting were very well done. What intrigued me the most was interesting it was to see how "Room" looked while Joy and Jack were held there and after they'd escaped.
I know this blog post has been short but I just figured I would do a mini review and recommendation for those of you who have not seen the incredibly well-done Room.

My Youtube Favorites

This may not be the most original post I've ever done but I felt like this blog needed a switch from let's be honest, purely movie reviews, because those are all I ever watch anymore.
Jenna Marbles:
I'm going to be honest with you guys, when I first started watching Jenna's channel I honest to god thought that Marbles was her actual last name. But once I was introduced to her cute dog, Marbles, I felt like a complete idiot. The reason why I love Jenna's channel is because she uses humor to cater to all audiences. Then sometimes she just uses her personality to cater to those audiences. Jenna will use her audience as inspiration for her videos and sometimes not. Like in "Jenna's Ratchet Hair Salon," that is just pure comedy in order to get a laugh from her viewers, while in "Some Thoughts On Avacados," she literally uses a whole twelve minutes to rant about avocados being on everything where she lives, and that's just her personality shining through.
Ryan Higa:
I love Ryan Higa because he does a spoof on pretty much every pop culture topic. For example, two of my favorite videos from him are How to Sing Like Your Favorite Artist part 1 and part 2. He finds the humor in the hot topic of the day. About a month ago he made a video spoof on "How to Run for President," clearly a spoof on the presidential race. For me Ryan Higa is a timelessly funny person who I've been watching since "The Big Bouncing Inflatable Green Ball," which premiered around six years ago. Needless to say, I've been watching his channel all the way through the cheesiest of the cheesy videos.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon:
You're probably looking at this title like, "What? This doesn't fit in." Well, believe me I laughed at the thought of putting this on my list but the channel of one of the Youtube channels I most frequently watch. I know that I can just record this on TV, but I'm with the generation who can't live without their smart phone. hence me doing everything on it. Sorry, off topic, let's get back to it. I love the Tonight show because Jimmy is one of my most favorite comedians and I watched his show before it was the Tonight Show and is the only reason I watch the actual Tonight Show.