October Challenge: Week 2

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100 million bc, amc, amc's fear fest, amc's fearfest, beneath, chiller, chiller channel, chiller tv, dark house, dinosaurs, expelled, fear fest, fearfest, films in a school, halloween, halloween 6, halloween movies, horror, horror movie challenge, horror movies, michael myers, movies, october, october challenge, paranormal, paranormal activity, scary, supernatural, syfy, syfy channel, the expelled, the moth diaries, time travel

This past week was Week 2 of the October Challenge. Today marked the start of AMC’s FearFest. So exciting! I’ve been waiting for it all year and it’s finally here. And it helps with the movie challenge too. So, to start off week 2, I watched movie #6: Dark House (2009). It was terrible. I wouldn’t recommend it, ever. The idea wasn’t bad, but it was so poorly filmed and acted. I give it a 3/10 at most. Would’ve been a 2, but the idea was pretty good.

The next day, I watched #7: 100 Million BC (2008). It’s another one of those Syfy “horror” movies, so it wasn’t amazing; but it was tolerable. I also liked the idea of it, so I give it a 6/10.

Next, movie #8: The Moth Diaries (2009). Honestly, I’m not sure how it qualified as a horror movie; but everywhere I looked it up and read about it, it was listed as a horror film. To me, it seemed more like a drama, maybe suspense, and definitely dark. Some call it one of those gothic horror movies, whatever that is. I’m guess it’s a dark suspenseful movie that’s considered a light horror? That’d be my guess. Anyway, it was still really good, so I give it a 7/10. Would’ve been an 8, but it’s not horror to me.

On to #9: Beneath (2013). Absolutely bad. A Chiller channel original film that premiered last week, it was really boring and the idea wasn’t original at all. I had a hard time focusing and paying attention to it; they’re literally in a rowboat the entire time, while a big, ugly, and creepy fish tries to eat them. So overall, I give it a 2/10 at the most.

The other night, I watched #10: The Expelled (2010). I watched it on Netflix, and it was okay. I say 6/10 because the idea was cool, and it takes place in a school the entire time; so it’s a little different. Plus, it’s an English film, and I love the way people from the UK talk. Just a couple scenes were nauseating, with the gore; but it was okay. I’d probably watch it again.

Finally, for #11, I watched Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). That’s the only one in the franchise that I’d never seen. I liked it. I say 6 or 7/10. The 1^st, 4^th, and the 7^th (H20) are my favorites, so they’ll always rank the highest 🙂

It’s October 14^th, and I’ve only watched 11 so far, so I’m behind! I would be up to 14 movies by now if (1) I wasn’t so swamped with homework and reading all the time and (2) if I hadn’t gotten caught up re-watching the Paranormal Activity movies this weekend. They’re some of my favorites. I don’t think they’re necessarily amazing, but I still love them, and I just had to watch them again 😛 So yes, I’m behind, but I’ll catch up. The month’s only halfway over 🙂

Anyway, thought I’d update y’all on my movie challenge and rate the films as I go in case y’all are participating and want to know which ones to watch (and which to avoid!). Talk to y’all later!

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Mental Health Awareness Week

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awareness, depression, emotional disorders, illness, mental disorders, mental health, mental health awareness, mental health issues, mental illness, NAMI, october, stigma

I wanted to make another post today because today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week here in the U.S. Not many people pay attention to things like this, and I want to change that: I want to draw attention to it. When it comes to mental health and mental illness, most people don’t give it a second thought. They discard it, like it’s not real or important. When they do pay attention to it, they look down on it. Mental health issues carry stuch a stigma, and that needs to change.

The way I see it, mental health is just as important as physical health, if not more. It’s just as real. Depression and schizophrenia, among countless others, are just as real as diabetes or cancer. Some mental or emotional disorders can even be fatal if they go untreated. People just don’t understand. Some may not really be able to, but I think the majority just don’t want to. And that’s the problem. Those with mental health issues so often get bullied, teased, picked on, abused, taken advantage of, etc., because people don’t even attempt to understand. They look down on those with mental health issues, and treat them as if they’re inferior, because people fear and are intimidated by what they don’t understand.

So this week, try to be and stay aware of those with mental health issues. Try to understand. Be supportive. Reach out to them if you can. Mental and emotional disorders are hard enough to deal with, and not having anyone to talk to or being treated unfairly because of them doesn’t help – it makes it worse. Be aware. Learn about it. If you know someone who’s struggling, offer a helping hand, figuratively speaking. We need to break this stigma that mental health issues have. And the first step is being aware.

October Challenge: Week 1

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children of the corn, films, ghosts, halloween, halloween movies, horror, horror movie challenge, horror movies, killer kids, movies, october, october challenge, paranormal, remakes, scarecrow, scary, supernatural, syfy, the awakening, the pact, true bloodthirst, vampires

In my last post, I talked briefly about the October Horror Movie Challenge that I decided to participate in. I started a day late, but that’s okay; it doesn’t matter when you start, as long as you watch at least 31 by Halloween night – and they have to be ones you haven’t seen before. I’ve watched 5 so far. I plan to keep you all updated on it as well as provide reviews for the films, in case any of you want to participate and don’t know which movies to watch (and which ones to maybe avoid…’cause they may be terrible).

The first one I watched was called True Bloodthirst (2013). It has one of my favorite actors (Primeval’s Andrew Lee Potts), so I thought I’d give it a try. I liked it, but it’s not one of my favorite horror films. I’ve probably give it a 5.5 out of 10…can’t choose between a 5 or a 6 (and it only would’ve gotten a 6 because Andrew Lee Potts is in it).

The second one was The Pact (2012), which was really good. It’s extremely rare for a horror movie to scare me – only a few out of the hundreds I’ve seen have legitly scared me. This was one of them. I had to cover my eyes a lot of the time, I was terrified! (And watching it alone at night didn’t help either.) It came with a twist too, which made it even scarier. I’d give it a 7/10.

A couple days ago, I watched horror movie #3: The Awakening (2012). That movie was amazing. It also had a huge twist that made it even better than it already was. I’d highly recommend it. I give it an 8/10, or higher.

Then last night, I watched Scarecrow (2013). Now, it’s a Syfy original movie, so it obviously wasn’t great. But it starred Lacey Chabert, one of my favorite actresses. And I’m a sucker for Syfy movies, no matter how bad they may be (Ghost Shark? Sharknado? Really bad, but I still liked them). From the title alone, I could tell it’d be stupid and possibly a desperate attempt at coming up with an idea for a horror movie, but it wasn’t totally unwatchable. I’d say 5/10.

Finally, for today: the remake of Children of the Corn (2009). I never really liked the original anyway, and I wasn’t fond of the remake. I don’t know, there’s just something about murderous children in movies that freaks me out. They’re supposed to be innocent! But in these Children of the Corn films, nope. I don’t like the idea of the film, which made it difficult to even get through it. Plus, the guy’s wife in the movie was hysterical and annoying, which also made it difficult to watch because she irritated me. So overall, I’d say 5/10 at the most.

So yes, those were my films this week. For a horror film that’s really enjoyable, out of those 5, I’d recommend The Awakening. If you want a scare or to get really creeped out, then I’d recommend The Pact.

More to come! 🙂

Favorite time of year is coming!

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challenges, Christmas, classes, college, costumes, december, fitness, halloween, health, holidays, horror movie challenge, horror movies, meditation, meditation challenge, october, party, school, semester, stress, studying, thanksgiving, time, time management, trick 'r treat, university, yoga

Wow, it’s been 3 weeks since my last post! Five classes has been hectic and stressful, leaving little time to myself, but I’m doing well in them and I like them a lot. Yet, I’m still ready for a break! We still have 7 or 8 weeks until Thanksgiving break, so there’s a ways to go yet. But it’ll get here fast. Each semester seems to fly by even faster than the previous one. I mean I’m already in my last year of college and the first semester of it is a third of the way done, and it feels like it started yesterday! Crazy how time flies when you’re having fun 😛

So yes, time is flying by and lightning speed…light speed? I don’t know, they’re both fast 🙂 I’m so excited that it’s FINALLY October. October through December is my favorite time of year. Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays, and I can’t wait for them to get here.

I was talking with my boyfriend last night about what we’re going to do for Halloween this year. Last year, we went to his mom’s for a Halloween party for his little sister and little brother. Hmm…maybe we’ll go trick ‘r treating with them this time. I’ve never been trick ‘r treating before. I was never allowed to celebrate Halloween, but I never had anything against myself; so this year, I get to celebrate. I’m still trying to decide what I wanna be, in terms of a costume. It’ll be fun! 🙂

There’s also this fun activity of sorts called the October Challenge – or the October Horror Movie Challenge. The goal is to watch as many horror movies (that you’ve never seen before) as possible by Halloween, starting the first day of October. The minimum is 31. No maximum. I’m behind, but I’ll catch up. It’s fun! 🙂 If anyone is up to participating, let me know how it goes! I’ll probably be updating on my progress in the challenge myself 🙂

Also, I’ve been thinking about doing a meditation challenge, or starting a my own meditation practice. With a load of classes and working on top of that, I need a way to de-stress everyday. Admittedly, and ashamedly, I haven’t been keeping up with my yoga. But that changes this week! There’s always time to work it into the day somehow, even if we don’t feel like there is.  I’ve felt really tired and sluggish lately, and now I know why. So I will get back on that and hopefully see my stress levels decrease.

Anyway, I just wanted to update y’all and let y’all know why it’s been 3 weeks since my last post. I try not to let that happen, but sometimes my schedule leaves little time for anything else. But I will work on that. Time management 🙂 Talk to y’all later!