Rave: New Moon

Since March of this year, I've been waiting for New Moon. Every day (at least once a day, mostly 3 or more times/day, though), I've checked my favorite New Moon fan blog to make sure I was up-to-date on all things New Moon.

Friday morning around 12:01 a.m., it was here. And I can't get it out of my mind.

New Moon was everything I hoped it would be and more. And by more, I mean Taylor Lautner's amazing body. I expected beautiful abs, but he definitely exceeded all of my expectations... and made me feel bad for being attracted to a 17-year-old (where were the Taylor Lautners when I was 17?!).

Anyway, here's my review of New Moon. Point by point, exactly what I liked and what I didn't:

1. Loved: The very beginning. The poem that Bella recites while you get a flash of the scenes in Italy definitely got me excited right from the get-go. It also made me think... and I like movies that make me think. The dream sequence may have taken a little longer than I would want it to, but it was great.


2. Loved: the humor in the film and the warmer colors. I appreciate a drama that has a few good funny lines/moments. Twilight was so dramatic and tense that it made me feel dramatic and tense. New Moon, although it was much sadder than Twilight because Edward leaves, looked and felt brighter. I suppose it was appropriate because of the relationship Bella develops with Jacob.


3. Loved: the CGI. The sparkling on the vamps' skin was much better. the wolves looked real and not cheesy. Plus, I loved how they used the actor's eyes in the CGI wolves. At the end of the movie, you could see the sadness in Jacob's eyes, even in his wolf form. Which totally broke my heart, by the way.


4. Loved: The movie theatre scene. I heard rumors that the scene wasn't even written into the movie at one point, and i'm glad Lautner fought for this key scene. It's the first scene where you really see a connection, and I love it.


5. Loved: basically all of the Jacob and Bella scenes. I'm team Jacob, and that's my only explanation for loving those scenes. I would like to note that I see stronger chemistry between Taylor and Kristen than between Rob and Kristen. Jacob literally gets "googly eyes" when he looks at Bella. She gets the same when she looks at him, although she does a great job of showing hurt behind her eyes. I see physical chemistry between Rob and Kristen... but look at their eyes. It's just stronger between Jake and Bella. But I'm biased.


6. Loved: Kristen's hair/makeup/wardrobe in this movie. Much better. Much more "Bella" in my mind.


7. Loved: Did I say Taylor Lautner's body? Cause I loved that. The obvious gasps, giggles, squeals, etc. in the theatre when he first took off his shirt said it all. He's "sort of beautiful."

Okay, so there are my raves. Here are the things I wasn't too pleased with:

1. Um, can we say the Volturi fight scene? I agree, a little action was appropriate. But, I would rather stick to the book. They didn't fight in the book. Plus, it took up time during the movie. Time that could've been used to show Jake and Bella looking for the meadow together, Bella ripping out the car stereo, etc. Basically, I would've liked to see more time dedicated to things that happened in the book.


2. The cliff diving scene. Did anyone else find it to be anti-climatic? No run, no dive, no scream. Just hop off the cliff like it's something you do everyday, Bella. No background music that suddenly stops, or builds... or something. It seems like such a key part of the story should've gotten more attention.


3. The e-mails to Alice to explain the story. Ok, so I get that we needed to get Bella's thoughts in the movie. But e-mails to Alice? really? I would've rather heard her just talk. No "dear Alice."


4. I know it's not in the book, but I wish Jacob and Bella had just kissed in the kitchen anyway. I wanted it so bad I wanted to scream! If you're not going to follow the book, why not just throw in some good kiss action for us team Jacob people?


5. the ending. "Marry me." Really? Why? I think the proposal would've been much better in the third movie. That's just me. Also, it left me hanging a lot like an episode of True Blood would. I can't wait until June now. It's going to kill me. Probably.

That's about all I didn't like. I'll let you know again after I've seen the movie a few more times.

Super-expensive shampoo? Not anymore.

Last month, I ventured to a new salon. I figured it was about time I actually found a stylist in Tuscaloosa instead of waiting months to see my favorites in Orlando.

So, I made an appointment with a sweet little blonde girl that made me feel comfortable and did an excellent job on my cut and color. I was so happy and in such a great mood after her amazing performance that I let her talk me into buying the most expensive hair products at the salon, Pureology.

I don't know if any of you have heard of the product, but it's made from all-natural ingredients, smells of mint and witch hazel (like Aveda products, actually) and costs an arm and a leg.

"It's a luxury line," the lady at the counter told me after my eyes bugged out of my head at the total on the computer screen. "But it's absolutely worth every penny. This will last you for months, and you'll see a difference in your hair immediately."

I took the bait. I'm a sucker for luxury shampoo and conditioners, and I believed that this product would surely change my life. Wrong.

Weeks later, my hair gets greasy within 17 hours of cleaning my hair with said shampoo. My hair is very fine and feels greasy usually within 24 hours of washing. This product made it worse. And it's ability to give my fine hair life and volume? Nonexistent. It's just as flat as if I were to use the cheapest of grocery store shampoos.

Case in point: I washed my hair yesterday around 3 pm (and left out the conditioner), styled it with Velcro rollers (using no hair spray, extra products) and went to a wedding. Last night, I figured, maybe if I don't put my hair in a ponytail, I won't have to wash it in the morning. (I know that excessive washing can harm your hair. ) This morning (17 hours later, around 7 am), I look in the mirror to find a grease bomb had exploded on my head. I didn't sweat in my sleep (I probably froze. It was very cold in my room!). So, what's the excuse?

I was led to believe that Pureology shampoo would cure all of my hair problems. Lies. Now, I sit here with a pony tail and a nasty feeling in the back of my head that not even teasing can remedy. I'm not a gross person. I don't go days without washing my hair. I just think that a shampoo (especially a shampoo I paid more than $30 for, before the conditioner) should keep my hair looking clean and fresh for longer than 17 hours. Is that too much to ask?

Now, I have to go to the grocery store and pick up the Suave shampoo. At least their volumizers made my hair feel clean and bouncy for more than 24 hours.

Why didn't I listen to my instincts in the salon? I'm blaming it on the hair dye's fumes and the new hair cut euphoria. I won't be fooled next time. Don't even try.

Rant: Don’t lie to your roommates.

…Because we’re not stupid.

Roommate problems. Everyone (I assume) in college has had at least one roommate that they could just live without. Instead of ranting for a few paragraphs, I’m going to write a letter to mine. If she sees it, good. It’s info she needs to know. If not, well, then at least some of you can relate.

Dear inconsiderate roommate,

If you were ever here, I could talk about this with you personally. Unfortunately, you are always at your boyfriend’s, friend’s or parent’s house; this makes communicating with you difficult from the beginning. In fact, you may have stayed here three times in the past three weeks (I’m not exaggerating… this is true.) And during those times, you have managed to microwave your nasty frozen sausage/bacon/hamburger patty and stunk-up the apartment, stolen my boyfriend’s beer (this is an accusation, not yet proven) and have not cleaned up your mess.

At first, I thought you were a crappy roommate only because it was your first college apartment and you didn’t know any better. Now, I realize that you really are just an inconsiderate/overly dramatic/irrational person.

In order to fully understand everything you do wrong, I’m going to make a list.

1. Honestly, my boyfriend does more to clean up the apartment than you do, and that’s practically nothing. I can count on two fingers the number of times you’ve taken out the trash. I can count on my thumbs the number of times you’ve done the dishes (once resulting in a broken dishwasher, btw). I have never seen you vacuum, straighten-up, throw any of your trash in the garbage can or do anything related to these tasks. I am not your mother. I will not clean up after you. You are an adult. Start acting like one.

2. You eat our food and don’t buy anything we would ever want to eat. You drank an entire case of my bottled water and only bought me a new case because I called you out on it (which you denied later, after you had already admitted fault.) You drink the last of my coffee and my coffee creamer (neither of which you’ve bought all year). You buy gross frozen meat, blocks of nasty cheese and other foods that you know we will never eat. Why? Because you enjoy eating our food and wasting our money, but don’t want us to do the same.

3. You are lazy. If I didn’t have classes three days a week, I could surely get more done than watching 1000 shows OnDemand and messing up an apartment that I don’t help clean. I don’t know what “errands” you speak of when you say you spend your days running errands, because the other two roommates have all of the bills in their name. You have gone grocery shopping less than five times during the entire semester. You have no job. You have no responsibilities, actually. So, what are these “errands”? I don’t believe they exist. Adding to the lack of anything to do, I’m almost positive you should’ve been kicked out of the University for the number of classes you’ve missed this year (for reasons that don’t exist.) Because you only have classes two days/ week, it shouldn’t be difficult to make at least one. But, no. Not easy for you. Too hard. Also, any club that you’re in, you constantly complain about meetings and responsibilities. You donate less of your time to anything productive than I thought possible. It’s very irritating to someone who works 20 hours/week and still makes it to every class and meeting.

4. You lie. Constantly. And we know. We’re not dumb. When you say that you’re “sick,” we don’t believe you. We also don’t believe that you have life-threatening injuries from a fender-bender in a parking lot. You lie to your boyfriend about going out to frat parties, and you lie to us about what you do instead of clean, buy groceries or do anything productive.

5. You constantly talk about how “rich” you are in front of two girls that work hard to support themselves. Then, when asked to pay bills, suddenly you have no money. Also, the only two things we asked you to supply at the apartment were: a coffee maker and an ironing board. The coffee maker you bought (for $10) is probably the worst coffee maker I’ve ever encountered. Homeless people expect better from their coffee pots. You have yet to buy an ironing board because $20 is just too much money for you to spend. Never mind the washer, dryer, dining table, couch and kitchen utensils that she supplied. Or the chair, TV, surround sound, DVD player, tables, pictures, and kitchen utensils that I brought. Nope, moving/purchasing those items didn’t cost us anything (to be read with sarcasm).

6. You run-up our power bills because you leave the air too low and the lights always on. You have no concept of money and don’t understand that an outrageous power bill for me means I don’t get to go grocery shopping until the next paycheck. You’re very inconsiderate.

7. All of these combined make me dislike you as a roommate and as a friend. We used to be fine. Then, I lived with you. When I mention these things, you act terribly offended and get defensive. At first, I was just warning you that these things could become a problem. Well, they have because you haven’t fixed anything. You’ve only become more inconsiderate.



Some of this sounds harsh. I agree. I’m a very blunt person and I can be taken the wrong way by someone who is hyper-sensitive. I’m just tired of living with someone who has no responsibility, no self-awareness, no consideration for others and no conscience. (Note: these statements are my opinion and my frustration. my other roommate may not necessarily feel this way...although i'm sure she agrees on some points.)

That’s my rant. That being said, I am only living with the good roommate next year. No matter what.

Twitter: better than the news

Sitting at my desk today, I made a routine Twitter check to see what's going on in the world.

Scrolling down the page, I glance over at my trending topics and spot "Orlando." Since it's technically my hometown, I decided to give it a look.

That's when I found out about the shooting at a downtown Orlando office building. Panicked, I texted my mom, who works in downtown Orlando, to make sure she's ok. I checked twitter, Google's News page and every other source I could think of to ensure that the building was not my mom's. I watched the Orlando trending topic as the story unfolded in real time, and eventually found out that the building was non my mom's. In seconds, everything was fine. Breathe out.

It made me think: Twitter is the only way I really get my news. I check it so often that I always know what the latest headlines say. Occasionally, I'll read a few articles posted by the Birmingham News or one of my favorite bloggers.

We've heard all about newspapers going under because of online news sources. But, what about twitter? It's quicker, easier and more efficient in determining which news stories are deserving of my time. A catchy headline or a twitpic are a surefire way to get me to look. I rarely pick up a USA Today paper or a NYTimes at school because I already know what's going on in the world thanks to my Associated Press, USA Today, NY Times and iGossip iPhone apps. Twitter gives me all the local news I could want, plus weather and traffic updates in real time. I would much rather read the news on my iPhone instead of opening up a large paper on the bus around campus.

I think that tweeting is going to become necessary for all news outlets, and even bloggers. If we want our message to get out to a busy, distracted audience, the best way to do so in in 140 characters. The nightly news shows are filled with "news" that I don't necessarily care about. With my phone, I can choose exactly what I want to see, streamlining the process and saving me from missing out on major events while I'm watching Gossip Girl.

How do you get your news? Am I completely wrong? Are there still people out there that would rather open up a paper?

To follow or not to follow?

"That is the question..."

I love twitter. I love following everyone i've come in contact with, either in person or on the internet.

But, what if there are just some people that shouldn't follow you? People that you don't know how they're going to understand your tweets.

As I was browsing my Tweetie tonight, I noticed that my PR writing professor posted a tweet that basically asked PR professors (through the trending topic feature) if a student's tweets contradict her class excuse, should she call the student out on it. Immediately (because I'm paranoid), I assume she's talking about me.

Let's be clear: I've missed class twice this semester and I've been VERY up front about my reasons. The first time, I missed class because of a terrible migraine. Totally legit. The second time, I completely overslept. Which I explained in an e-mail and I complained about via Twitter. I've never even tried to lie about missing class. It's dumb. You WILL get caught. Especially when your teacher follows you on twitter.

As with my facebook post, now I'll be scared to tweet what I really want to tweet. What if someone that I didn't know was on twitter saw me complain about them (without using his or her name, of course). What if my slacker room mate saw all the frustration about her that i've let out on twitter?

I don't like being censored by anyone, including myself. Social media is a powerful tool, and I suppose it can sometimes be used as a watchdog. Should it? Since when did listening to someone's unique opinion/view of the world in 140 characters become social media monitoring?

I'm not saying that's what my teacher is doing. She's actually really cool. She didn't seem to be angry at me at all for oversleeping, and I'm still not sure she was even talking about me. It just made me think: Who else is watching me (or you, even) on twitter to make sure I'm not making a mistake?

Does your employer follow you? Are you following someone just to see if they'll slip up or to make fun of what they say? Do you only follow some people because you hope they'll follow you? Why do you really follow all those people on your twitter? Think about it.

Ignore all Invites from this User

Facebook just isn't what it used to be.

At first, Facebook was great. It was a great way to develop new friends and keep in touch with old friends while in college. I could easily "Facebook" someone from my Rho Chi group during sorority recruitment and plan dinner, I could look at that guy I met at the frat house on the weekend to see if he was a creeper, I could keep in touch with friends from other schools to see what they were doing and I could maintain a highly-competitive poke war with several friends from high school.

But, after Facebook opened itself up to everyone (businesses, parents, developers, etc), it lost a lot of the sparkle it once had. I had to delete things off of my profile and edit myself into the "All-American girl" because I was afraid that my professors, church members, employers and (oh no!) parents would see something that they could twist into something bad. I'm not a bad girl and I never had racy or inappropriate pictures. But I find myself editing everything I put up in order to create someone that all parents and employers would approve of.

What really makes me dislike facebook are all the ridiculous quizzes, applications and advertisements. I understand that Facebook apps are addicting. Some people must have absolutely NOTHING to do during the day because they're spending all their time on facebook. I've actually de-friended some people because I'm SO tired of all the invites to work on their farm, throw pillows at them or find out which celebrity's baby I act like. Because I'm at the beginning of the alphabet, people ALWAYS choose me to be one of the lucky friends they refer to the stupidest applications. People I otherwise might like to stay in touch with get de-friended or messages begging them to stop inviting me to join their ninja fight.

My suggestions: don't force me to decline 10000 invitations to stupid applications every day. Granted, Facebook has now made it possible to ignore all invitations from certain apps and users. But, it doesn't stop new ones from coming my way. Instead of forcing people to ask 250 friends to join an app, why can't the developers allow people to select people to invite or skip the step? I guarantee I would take some quizzes if I received one or two that would truly entertain me. If I was part of a select group (of 5 or so) that my best friend chose to invite to work on her Twilight farm, i'd be up to the task. Maybe allowing people to see what friends have taken similar quizzes or downloaded similar applications would be a better way to choose exactly who they invite to the app.

I admit, I enjoy using Facebook. I love being able to keep up with what my high school friends are up to and to see pictures from home. I like being able to look up names to match with faces. I also like being able to get discounts on fan pages.

I'm just tired of being bombarded with invitations to take quizzes or join farms when I really don't use facebook as means of entertainment but as a way to stay in touch.

Halloween... the afterthoughts

Halloween is over. And as much fun as I had taking my room mate's little brother (who dressed up as Mario, btw...adorable) trick-or-treating, I can't help but feel lame.

I'm 21. I didn't spend Halloween as my fellow college students did: dressing up and getting trashed. Why? Because I see no need in finding the skankiest outfit possible and drinking myself stupid.

I used to enjoy the holiday. It was fun. My freshman year, I made my very own clock and dressed up like Flava-Flav. I had a blast. But... After going out to the bars in my very original and fun costume, I couldn't help but feel like an outsider. I was one of the few girls out that wasn't wearing a bra and matching underwear and trying to call it a costume.

How many police offers have you seen wearing hot shorts and a bra with their badge? How many bumble bees have you seen with thigh-high stockings? Surely, you've seen a pirate wearing nothing but a bra and a hat? No? That's because they don't exist.

Don't get me wrong. If you have it, flaunt it. Whatever. But, if you have it, why do you have to be almost naked to prove it? You can have a "sexy" Halloween costume without having your goodies hanging out for everyone to see. And if you don't have it, please don't TRY to flaunt it. It's gross.

Halloween used to be fun. Now, I'm scared to dress up because I know that if I'm not wearing basically nothing, it won't be considered a legitimate costume.

So, all you girls that think you have to be partially naked on Halloween to look cute, why do you do it? Do your employers/parents/preachers/teachers/siblings see you dressing like this and approve? You wouldn't dress like this on any other day of the year (or maybe some of you do, I dont know). You don't need an over-sexed costume to look cute. Guys will go after you either way. And if you're looking for a "good guy" (I always hear people complaining about not being able to find a good guy), you're not going to find him while you're wearing undies at the bar.

Just a suggestion.