Musing 1/24/19

     As the second semester of school gets well on it's way, I can say that so far it's been a mild success. After the disappointment of last semester, I have high hopes for this one to be better. Fortunately, Josh, my significant other, is determined to use his time to help get me through it with all A's. I doubt that I'd get that high of a grade for all of my classes, but it's good to strive high.
     My classes this semester lean more towards the simpler side, it consist of Young Adult Literature, American Literature, Advanced Poetry, and Japanese Culture and Society through Animation, though I prefer to refer to them as "Fictional Boyfriend Time", "The Walt Whitman Fanclub", "Angsty Journaling", and "Anime Club". Really, the only possible issue I could have is keeping up with the readings, especially for my YA Lit. since we have a quiz at the beginning of each class. But, I've taken up bullet journaling again to try to keep my school and work life organized, so ideally the readings shouldn't become a problem. Though I am notorious for procrastinating my work so we will see for sure.
     The only downsides so far are that of my refund and my jobs. Initially, I was going to take out $10,000, part of that was going to pay off my car and the other part was to go to helping me pay for rent for my new apartment. This plan in mind, I had rearranged my work schedules to working two days at the restaurant and three days at the theater. On the upside, now that I work at the theater more I have finally been box trained, meaning I finally get my overdue raise. The downside, in order for me to get Sunday off completely for rest and homework, I had to make mandatory weekend availability for the theater, meaning I couldn't work my usual Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the restaurant.  Less work there means less tips which keep me afloat throughout the week for food and parking.
     Work aside, the real tragedy is that after sacrificing more money for a free day, I found out that because I had taken out so much last semester, and because of something on my FAFSA, I could only obtain a little over $3,000, take away $2,000 and some change, and I have a bit over $1,000 left, far from as much as I was expecting back. I could work Sundays again, but ultimately I know I need at least one day to myself or else I'll burn out again. I'll leave that as a last resort.
     All in all, I'm a bit more optimistic for this semester, which is surprising since I'm rarely optimistic for anything recently. I'll take it one day at a time, and as long as I don't lose my cool or descend into another fit of depression and anxiety, everything should be alright. 

Musing 11/14/18

     In light of the death of Stan Lee, I feel it pressing to do something creative in his honor, hence the start of this series of musings. I've been finding it hard to reach within myself and create any type of medium of art, especially writing, for the past year or tow. I'd like to blame it on a plethora of mental illnesses and my life feeling like it's going downhill, but in actuality it just boils down to a lack of motivation to do anything. Which makes it seem like an easy fix, all you would have to do is "just do", but it seems like even that is a hard skill to come by. I guess this is also my excuse/apology as to why I haven't posted since my "back from hiatus" post It's not that blogging doesn't interest me anymore, it's just that I've lost touch with myself and what I am. But I figured while I'm in this mojo, creating something is better than nothing, so I'll do my best to at least post a musing or two when I can until I find it within to write to the caliber I desire.
     Another issue I've run into is what direction I want to take this blog. My younger, more passionate self valued anime, manga, J-Pop, and Japanese culture quite a bit. Which isn't to say that those things don't interest me anymore (I mean, I'm minoring in Japanese because I still hold those dear to my heart), but I think branching out and broadening my topic coverage will help motivate me to write. It's kind of like creating a no holds barred situation so that I can write whatever whenever, even though I technically could've done that anyways but the blog was following a theme and I'd hate to stray from it without notice.
     That's really all I have to say for this first musing. To conclude, despite the lack of motivation to do anything, I'll do my best to overcome it enough so that hopefully I can get back into the swing of life and find myself again. 

Back from Hiatus!

Here's an aesthetic picture as an apology

I realize it's been a while since I've posted something on here, but since high school has perished and I've gotten my footing in college, I've decided to end this two year hiatus and get back into the swing of things! I look forward writing once again. 

We Aim to Please: Fifty Shades of Grey Movie Review *Contains Spoilers*

Now, given the rating and such, my hopes to see if the new Fifty Shades of Grey movie was up to par with the book series was some to none. But the determination of my best friend knew no bounds, and she managed to get us in (much to the dismay of her older brother). So as I sit here scarfing down half a bag of large popcorn covered in oily, buttery goodness whilst I listen to readings of Creepypasta, I bring to you my review on the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey movie.

Based off of the three book erotic novel series, Fifty Shades of Grey was released on February 14, 2015. Charlie Hunnam was originally cast to play the role of Christian Grey along side Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steel, but he gave up the role, leaving Jamie Dornan to fill in his place. Now, for those who haven't read the series, Anastasia "Ana" Steel is a 21 year old college student living with her friend Katherine "Kate" Kavanagh. When Kate comes down with a sudden illness, she sends Ana to fill in to interview 27 year old billionaire Christian Grey.  After several meetings together, Ana and Christian soon delve into a dominant/submissive relationship, where Ana learns to explore her sexual limits and Christian learns to break down his hard exterior and open up emotionally...well at least to Ana.

The movie itself was pretty good, though I have to admit it was extremely rushed. In comparison to the book, multiple scenes were not included in the film. I realize that movie adaptations of novels usually cut out bits and pieces from the book, but I would've at least expected the movie to show Ana getting her job at SIP. Also, the absence of some of the characters seemed to raise a few questions to some people who haven't read the series (i.e. my friend). For example, when Ana and Christian are discussing Ana's visit with the physician after she received the contraception, her "I'm not allowed to have any sexual relations for four weeks" joke is kind of up in the air since there was no scene introducing Dr. Green and what . Then of course the fact that Ana's job at SIP wasn't scripted meant that the introduction of Jack Hyde wasn't either. Despite all of this, it seems like the movie was mostly concerned about showing the relationship between Christian and Ana. Which is alright, but still a bit disappointing.

There was some good points though to the movie. I highly enjoyed the (possibly) unintended humor that was spread out throughout the movie. From Christian Grey throwing Ana over his shoulder and randomly slapping her butt to Ana's innocent "What's a butt-plug?" line, I couldn't help but let out a few stifled giggles. Also, Ana's laidback personality contrasted well with Christian's constant monotonous business-like demeanor. Her little "happy dances" that she does is quite entertaining and helps lighten the mood a bit. Especially the drunk call scene at the bar, that had to be one of my favorite scenes.

And then there's the sex. Now, seeing as this was based off of an erotic novel, I was prepared to see gyrating hips and loud moans and grunts. What took me by surprise though, was just how much was actually shown. Yes, there was nakedness...a lot of nakedness. Especially Ana's breasts and behind. And though she was positioned in a way that she could show her naked body without exposing her genitals (and thus turning the movie into a legit pornographic film), there were brief split second moments where a small glimpse of her pubic region could be spotted. Well, more like the pubic hair. And Christian's bare butt was also on glorious display alongside Ana's. And just like Ana, no genitalia was shown whatsoever, aside from the also split second view we got from when he unzipped his pants. But as I stated before, it's mainly just the pubic hair.

Fifty Shades of Grey was truly an interesting watch. Sparking debates against my friend who wondered if their relationship counted as an abusive one, I found the movie as a whole fun to see, but slightly disappointing. I am curious, however, to see if another movie is scheduled to be released. Seeing as how Fifty Shades of Grey ended on the same note as the book, there may be a good chance of a second movie. If that's the case, then I won't doubt that I'll find some way to go see it, even if it means persuading one of my friends to go take me. Plot holes and rushed scenes galore, I kind of wonder if I set my expectations for the movie to high. Then again, movie adaptations seldom do it's novels justice.


Rating
6/10

Tap Tap Tap! App Store Recommendation: Deemo

I rarely retain the games that I download on my iPad, mainly because I don't want to use up the already limited storage space that I have, but this game was well worth the download.

A rhythm game developed by Rayark Games, the game was released on iOS and Android platforms. Now, the best I can explain the game is that it's like Smule, another popular rhythm game available in the app store. But imagine Smule with a storyline, beautiful artwork, and extremely enchanting music. The game download is free, but complete with in-app purchases if you would want to purchase more song books.

The game is centered around a tall, thin, mute, and highly adorable creature named Deemo, who plays piano music in the solitude of his castle. One day, to Deemo's surprise, a little girl falls through a window in the sky and seems to have lost all of her memories. As time goes on and as Deemo plays his piano, the pair realizes that the more he plays the larger a tree sprout seems to grow. Deemo then makes it his goal to get the tree to fully grow so that the little girl could hopefully reach the window in the sky and return to her home.

The story is very engaging and visually stimulating. Something unique about the game that I find very interesting is that there is no spoken dialogue. There is absolutely no words exchanged between any of the characters at all, unless you tap on them whist you explore Deemo's castle, but even then the characters don't converse directly to each other. Instead, we are treated with a beautifully scored soundtrack throughout the entire gameplay. Each song played from the cut scenes to title screen all set this kind of calming, mystical mood for the game and it's just music to the ears...literally.

To go more in depth into the music, the actual songs for the gameplay are riveting. When you open up the song book, the first song to greet you is called Dream, followed by a few other handful of songs. As you continue to progress in the game, you will be able to unlock more songs. Or you could click around in the rooms around the castle and be able to find songs that way. As for the genre of the music, Deemo holds a large range from melodic piano songs to dubstep. I really like the variety of songs that the game presents. The fact that we are able to play such a wide range of songs really keep up the players' interest.

The final thing I would like to touch up upon is the artwork. Everything in the game is hand drawn and done beautifully in my opinion. Especially the cut scenes. Since Deemo relies on pictures to tell the actual story, each scene is separately drawn and fluently combined and feels like one is flipping through a collected book of artwork. The simplicity and earthy tones of the design really adds to the magical feel that the game already has.

Deemo as a whole is one of those app store gems. With outstanding artwork, story, and music, it's as addictive as it is captivating. I would highly recommend this game to those who especially love rhythm games. Now if you don't mind, I think it's time I go back to immersing myself in beating all of my top scores.