Dracula Untold Movie Review

I had very high hopes for Dracula and I have to say the movie exceeded my expectations.  And that my readers, is not an easy thing to accomplish.  There was one scene in particular where Vlad fights a Turk army as a vampire for the first time which was just thrilling.  Although, truth be told, it was kind of difficult to see what was going on what with the dark atmosphere and quick flashing movements. Still, even considering that it was awesome.  I also liked that they added knowledge of Vlad's background, not just as an adult but the bits about him growing up.  That would make a great story by itself.  Or at the very least someone should write facfiction about it.

Near the end though, and this is a SPOILER, Vlad created an army of vampires.  I don't really see why he needed those people.  People that tried to burn him alive the day before. How could you not expect betrayal in that situation?  I can name one reason Vlad would do such a thing, but even so it was an excessive and unneeded act,  also a stupid and desperate one.  Along with that, I didn't like that he abandoned his child.  Just because he's a "monster" now doesn't mean he can't be a good father.  I can understand his reasoning behind it though.  If Vlad came back for him he'd have been hunted down and treated like a demon.

All in all, Dracula is totally worth watching.  Defiantly a movie to watch again.

Colorful Mind

I've been listening to this song on repeat for probably longer than a sane person would but in my defence it's awesome.  It's called Colorful Mind by Broken Iris.  My favorite line is, "Will this be another day of night in here, the knife is not sharp enough to fear".

When I actually pay attention to the lyrics of a song I always end up noticing that they are kind of depressing and/or "angry".  Makes a person wonder.  But, I have always gone more for how the song sounds rather that whatever's being said.

Here's the link...

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=MJxznGyLVVc

Fanfiction

I decided to write my own fanfiction.  Yes, I have sunk that low.  Anyways, it is a crossover between Harry Potter and dare I say it...Twilight.  Not that there's anything wrong with either series.  It's just I spent quite a lot of time trying to find a particular fanfic only to say what the hell? I'll just make my own.

So far so good, I've gotten tons of views and several follows.  The story's not as refined as I'd like it to be but it's not that bad either.  I add a new chapter every day/every other day currently.

Here's a link...

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10658111/1/Cat-Claw

The Boy With The Cuck-koo Clock Heart - Movie Review

SPOILERS

In the beginning I could not wrap my mind around this rather unique film.  Things just spiral off in weird dreamlike tangents.  However, as you continue watching the story unfolds and you can't not fall in love with it.  That is until Jack throws his key over the side of a cliff.  The key that keeps his heart working! Just so he could kiss a girl.  Which while a sweet gesture, was horrifying.  Perhaps I should explain the storyline first.  Jack has a clockwork heart obviously.  One that can be easily overloaded if he feels emotions too strongly.  He falls in love with a girl.  Which is totally predictable outcome but hey.  I won't give everything away so you'll have to watch the movie for the rest.

Still, it ends at the cliff scene so be warned.  Normally, I would write off a story like this but the animators did a great job, the music was lovely, and the characters have really large vocabularies that they use to word thing in the most beautiful ways.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Movie Review

I didn't expect this movie to be quite so sad.  If you've seen the trailer then you know that Hiccup's mom is in the movie and I'm conflicted about that.  She had been gone for twenty years. For a good cause yes, but was there really no way for her to check up on her family?  Not once in that amount of time?  Despite that, everyone forgives her instantaneously.  I don't think I would have let it go so easily.  Eventually, sure, but only after more extensive questioning of motives.  Besides that, there were parts of the movie not well thought out or fully explained.  I don't want to give too much of the plot away, however, so I'll leave it at that.  Personally, there were several aspects of the movie I would have liked to see expanded on.  One particular character for instance catches my interest.  A movie, or mini-movie about his life would be an interesting tale.  Furthermore, he seemed to be more of an afterthought than anything else.  And, Hiccup's relationship with Astrid was practically non existent.  A lot more was done with the parents than anyone else, even though they had less screen time together than others.

There were many awe inspiring scenes, most of course involving the dragons, which by themselves make the movie worth watching. Counteracting that were quite a few depressing scenes and humor taken almost directly from the first movie.

Dragons 2 is a good movie, not the greatest maybe, but still good.  I would watch it again.

Edge of Tomorrow - Movie Review

Definitely worth seeing, Edge of Tomorrow is my new favorite action film.  Though, not quite what I expected it more than exceeded my expectations.  I had heard from my brother that some people didn't like the ending and that worried me a bit.  Things were looking dire but I loved the eventual outcome.  Truthfully, based on the commercials, I expected more romance however there was little.  The main characters only kissed once or twice that I recall and even then it was right before one or both of them died.  So, romance wise this movie is a no.  Action wise, hell yes!  There are so many awesome fight scenes.  I would have liked to see more on the island itself with Cage's team but as a whole this is a great film.  At times Rita was just beyond brutal.  She was ruthless and uncaring of those she thought under her station.  I did not like that.  At all.  She was also a bit repetitive, however, what else can you expect in a repeating war zone situation? So, I can't really fault her for that.  Cage was also a coward in the beginning.  Not someone made for war and instead someone forced into it.  So, that was interesting, seeing them or more specifically K change for the better.  The aliens themselves were very similar to the Moorwens from Outlander.  Less intelligent in some respects but similar all the same.

Anyways, I would give this movie 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who loves fighting, aliens and robotics.  This movie is full of action, humor, and the barest hint of romance.

Chocolate Ice Cream

What I really like about this recipe is that there's no need for an ice cream maker.  Not only that but there's only three ingredients!  I made a double batch which amounts to one on those 1/2 gallon tubs you can buy from the store.  Now, the ice cream itself is exceedingly chocolaty and the texture is a bit more like frosting than the ice cream I normally eat.  I'm not entirely sure if that is because of the lack of artificial stuff or the recipe itself.  That said, it was a big hit with my family.

You can find it here...

Ingredients:

• Cocoa Powder....7 tbsp
• Sweetened  Condensed Milk....1/2 cup and 2 tbsp
• Heavy Wipping Cream....1 cup

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Movie Review

I've put this off long enough.  The movie was crap.  Almost everyone died and I'm not even sure what the storyline was suppose to be.  There were at least three of them.  That said, I would say it's just barely worth watching.  Certainly not something I'd want to watch twice.

The whole film was basically a moral quandary for Peter on whether or not he should date what's-her-name because in the last movie the girls father's dying wish was for Peter to stay away.  Naturally, Peter felt guilty about this and it ends badly.  I was near tears.

Now, the commercials lead you to believe that the movie involves some blue guy as the main protagonist but really that guy was hardly around.  I mean literally, he's only reason for fighting is because "nobody sees me".  Finally, Harry Osbourne has some hereditary disease that his dying father just told him about and suddenly he acts like he's got days left and things happen.  I won't say too much about that but he does end up a crazed evil mastermind.

All in all, I think the creators just tried too hard.  They should have focused more on blue sparks with hints of love problems then adding all the other characters they did.  The green goblin should have been left for Spider-Man 3.

One last peeve!  The constant whistling and theme song ringtones were completely unnecessary.  I mean, once or twice would have been great but they were constant.

Weeping Angel Alert

There's a house right around the block that had one of those stone baby angels outside.  I found it unsettling and always felt like it was watching me.  Unfortunately, the quickest route to the library was to walk past this creepy stone statue.  Then one day, it just disappeared.  I find myself inclined to think that it was an actual weeping angel.  I sincerely hope that it has moved on from this neighborhood and not in the forest behind my house.  Now most rational people will attempt to reason that the people who lived there just moved away.  But, there has been no moving truck or for sale signs.  I think it's quite clear what happened here.

Hair Mask Update

I've been wanting to update you on my most recent experimental mask and now is a good a time as any.  This time I completely made up my own instead of someone else's recipe.

Notes: I didn't measure out the ingredients at the time, so they could differ and depending on your hair you may want to make some of your own changes.  I left this in for about 40 minutes but had planned one to two hours.  It worked how I wanted but I feel an extra hour or two wouldn't have hurt.  This is a "hot oil" treatment so it works best warmed up in the microwave.

Coconut oil... 1 tbsp.
Coconut milk... 2 tbsp.
Olive oil... 2 1/2-3 tbsp.
Honey... 1tbsp.
Lemon extract or lemon juice... a few drops to 1/2-1 teaspoon
Vegetable shortening... 1 tbsp.
Cinnamon... 1-2 teaspoon

PROS

• Smells delicious
• Soft silky hair
• Lasts longer than just a hot oil treatments (with out adding other stuff)

CONS

• I used too much shortening and it was hard to shampoo out
• Created a weighted down look on the bottom half of my hair, strangely not the top though, I suspect this could easily be fixed by adding less shortening next time

DIY Hair Masks

I'm not one to use many beauty products, hair or otherwise, but that doesn't mean I don't want soft, silky hair.  And so, I ended up trying out these two DIY Hair masks.

The first one tried was egg mixed with coconut oil which I left in for about half an hour and while I noticed some improvement it wasn't quite what I expected (not to mention icky).  Later, I tried extra virgin olive oil, warmed up and left in for an hour.  The improvement was simply amazing.  I'll continue using this mask at least once weekly or perhaps bi-weekly because my hair is very dry and frizzy without some form of extra conditioning.

Additional ingredients could be honey, cinnamon and lemon juice.  Make sure you completely shampoo out the oil otherwise your hair will look greasy.

For more in-depth information on the benefits of olive oil see...
http://blackhair101.com/hair-care/olive-oil-hair-benefits
Or...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/olive-oil-for-hair-growth.html

On an unrelated note, I found this beautiful song on YouTube...

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=JH_cM59JY34

Mini-Post

Here is a some I've been listening to of late, some of you may recognise it from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Drusilla's song, Transyvanian Concubine...

Now because I can't seem to be able to get youtube videos to show up on my posts I don't know for sure if you can either which leaves me with the tough choice of whether to bother with them.  I've decided if and when I do I will also add on the web address of said video. Not that I'll be posting videos often.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Fdo5IcLAAfc

Ramblings

It is a sad couple of days when your own family members practically line up saying things and asking rude questions about a simple pentagram hung up in one's room.  And it's days like this that I am unhappy with how Christians of the past portrayed symbols and celebrations of various pagan religions in an attempt to convert the populous.  Because, now I have to deal with my own family thinking I'm into the devil and have caused our house to be haunted.  As if!  Our house was clearly haunted before we moved in.  In fact, my little pentagram is acting as a sort of protection rune right now.

Some people are just ignorant on purpose it seems.  Even after I explained things they refuse to see reason.  It's just sad.  The world would be a better place if people could be more open-minded.   Which isn't to say that there aren't open-minded people, just that there's not enough.

An a different note, my next drawing (another wolf) is almost done!

Various Tips

I've rethought parts of my plan to tame Henry.  First and foremost being to eradicate my family's access to him.  And, if they must interact then they'll only do so under the closest observation.  Why?  Because they don't listen to the simplest guidelines and half the the time don't even remember his name.  Their negative attitude isn't helping matters in the slightest.  Henry is much smarter than he lets most people see and takes advantage of their gullibility.  While it may have been amusing to watch (and still is) I shouldn't let it happen. Shame.  Secondly, I gave Henry treats every time I saw him in the hopes that he'd equate me to good things.  Since then I've realized that I should use them more sparingly so they have greater worth.  Also, if he acts out then the treats are going away for 15 minutes (or more) because "no" doesn't mean anything to some people.

On a different topic, my German is coming along pretty good considering I've studied it sparingly.  I know about 30 words/phrases so far and even how to spell the majority of them.  Still, I've figured that it takes me at least two sessions on the babble app before I remember all the words given.  However, I was trying to learn 15 words then move on to the next lesson with 15 more immediately.  Well, that tired me out too quickly.  In the future I'll go over a lesson, wait an hour or so before moving on, completing at least three lessons a day on various topics.

New Cat Food

Fairly recently I have been researching cat food.  Boring, I know, but necessary.  I should start with my reasoning I suppose.  Sweetheart (one of my cats)  has a sensitive digestive system and was on a special diet.  However, I wondered just what was so special about it.  The main issue I had was all of the additives/by-products/preservatives/grains it had.  Those things are found in so many store bought brands it's unreal.  Long story short, I ended up choosing PureVita dry cat food and NutriSource wet food.  Both are all natural and grain free.  On the negative side, they're expensive.  Lucky that my cats eat less on this diet.

Now, there is much controversy on whether dry or wet food is better.  Most say wet, personally I like to mix it up a bit, as no one cat food is perfect.  Fun fact: people say that dry food is better for your cats teeth, the truth of the matter is cats swallow their kibbles.

I'm not quite brave enough to try an all raw diet, but maybe one day.  And, it's too much of a hassle to cook up a homemade diet, not to mention extremely hard to get all of the necessary vitamins and minerals.  I think I'll try baking some cat treats though. That should be fun.

Wings of Chaos

Sometimes a fan fiction writer will add a  poem or book excerpt to the beginning of a chapter which is where I found this one.  This poem is by Tracey Davis, whom I couldn't find in a cursory search anywhere else.  Regardless, it's a very powerful piece I think should be known.

The wings of chaos beat to the pulse of the world,

Can you hear it?  Can you feel it?

Can you see the darkening horizon?

A storm has been born,

And all before it shall be swept away and remade.

Hope you enjoyed that!

Frozen - Movie Review

Frozen is a pretty good movie with brilliant animation and some really genius ideas with the ice that looked beautiful.  Jack Frost should learn a few of those tricks.   Erroneously, I though that this wasn't a musical, so you can imagine my shock once people started breaking out in song.  Even then, the first two (three if you count the intro music) songs I actually liked.  Everything after that was grating.  Still, the humor managed to offset the damage done more often than not so, this still makes my top ten favorite animations list.

Side notes/minor spoilers:  I had hoped Elsa would get together with Kristoff and I still can't imagine why that didn't happen.  Oh well.  I also strongly dislike how wolves were portrayed in this film.  Wolves do not go around attacking people.  They just don't, nor do they need any more bad publicity while they're an endangered species.

Cat Claws

Yesterday was a bit odd.  While I was petting my adorable cat, Sweetheart, she FREAKED OUT.  For a minute there everything was fine, then I moved my hand over half an inch to the right to scratch in the spot between her left shoulder blade and ear when it happened.   Her whole body twisted, claws digging viciously into my arm, while slamming into the ground and her back leg twitching like a dogs.  I had to then carefully extract each claw.  Apparently, she had had an itch there for a while.  Still, I don't think that situation is what anyone would call "normal" but, whatever.