Here are some popular movie genres, visually boiled down to their basic components. I especially love the last element of the Alien Invasion Movie Recipe!
It’s interesting to see how many of my favorite films follow these recipes to a tee; I guess it just goes to show that formulas for success exist for a reason.
Does your favorite movie fall under one of these genres? Does it fit the bill?
Via Geek Tyrant.
Are you a gamer who also cares about home decor, i.e., beautiful book spines on your shelves such as the Penguin Classics collection? If so, Etsy seller James Bit has the product for you: video game covers à la old Penguin paperback books!
These custom covers, costing $6 for 3, is a surefire way to class up your video game collection. The seller goes on to note:
When ordering, please include your game titles and let us know which console they are for. . . .Your new covers will be sent via email as a high quality PDF. Just print them and slip them into your game case. No shipping costs to you and the file is yours forever in case something happens.
“Let’s see…I see that you’re now on 450mg of Wellbutrin and 40mg of Prozac. How are you feeling?”
“Much better. I’m still not quite where I would like to be, but I am crying less, smiling more, and I haven’t had a breakdown in over a month. I do, have a question though…”
“Yes?”
“I have noticed that I am also experiencing less euphoria. Don’t get me wrong — I am doing much better and generally more happy. But I have also found that my highs are not quite as high as they used to be.”
“That is a common side effect of antidepressants. I think one of my patients put it best when she said that her moods became more muted, that her world become less saturated. It is a tradeoff, and you need to decide: would you rather be generally happy, or experience a greater range of emotions that includes the lowest of the lows? It’s something I’d like you to think about before our next session…”
My life on antidepressants remind me of the “Vibrance” feature in Photoshop.
A few years ago, I wrote a post titled “Unmedicated” which touched upon this very issue. In it, I confessed that I was afraid to go back to therapy and start taking meds again because I didn’t want to lose my passion.
The intense downs contrast so beautifully with life in general that I cannot feel but feel inspired.
It is obvious that I have not been blogging as often, and I had just figured that my busy life as a mother of two finally caught up with me. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I still have the time to blog. If anything, I have more free time now than when I first started therapy, now that my in-laws are in town to help with the babies.
The simple truth of the matter was that I am feeling uninspired these days.
Upon doing some research into this matter, I stumbled upon an article titled “Depressed People See the World in Gray” which talks about a study indicating that people suffering from depression literally saw the world in gray. In other words, they perceived less contrast in colors that were presented to them.
The article also mentions that antidepressants seemed to have no effect in this phenomenon.
If depressed people physically perceive the world differently, can the use of antidepressants have a similarly mental affect?
It is certainly something to think about as I continue on this road to recovery.
And in the meantime, I will have to find other sources of inspiration and creativity.
This past weekend — at just shy of 9 months of age — Aerin finally sprouted her first two teeth.
As I proudly ran my finger over Aerin’s new incisors (and got repeatedly bitten in the process, as having her mother’s finger shoved in her mouth is something that she obviously does not like), I couldn’t help but think back to when Claire got her first teeth at 6 months of age. I had expected Aerin to get her first teeth at approximately the same age too, so the 3-month difference — which is quite large in a baby time — was yet another evidence of how differently my daughters grow, develop, and become themselves.
One of the things I find most difficult about parenthood is resisting the urge to compare the two. Who did _____ first? Who is more/less _____ than the other? Who is better/worse at _____ than the other?
After all, I have always hated it when my parents compared me to my sister, or even other kids while growing up. Isn’t this is a common complaint among many children? Parents should respect the fact that all kids grow at different paces, and develop different tastes and aptitudes along the way…right?
But it is so difficult not to. It practically seems like second nature to measure Aerin alongside her older sister because Claire, my firstborn, is what I currently know most intimately about raising a child. And I assume that as they grow older, I will start comparing Claire to Aerin as well.
In the past few weeks, Aerin has started to crawl…backwards.
For instance, we already know that Claire generally seems to a more detail-oriented person, while Aerin is more interested in the big picture. I had first suspected this when Aerin started to master her gross motor skills much faster than Claire, who in contrast always stayed ahead of the curve in her fine motor skills but lagged slightly behind in her gross motor skills. And now that Aerin’s personality is surfacing more, this becomes more and more apparent when you observe how each girl plays and interacts with the world around them.
We also know that Claire is much more cautious and afraid of new experiences. Aerin, on the other hand, seems fearless and always seems to want to explore, touch, taste, and feel everything around her. We never really had to worry too much about Claire’s safety while she learned to become more mobile, because she has always been such a cautious and careful little girl. But now that Aerin is crawling (another difference: Claire never crawled), we really need to keep a careful eye on her and even baby-proof the house much further than we did with Claire.
Aerin is already more personable and sociable than Claire. Claire is much more sensitive and observant. Claire’s concentration levels have always been very high for her age, while Aerin is easily distracted like other babies. The list goes on and on.
Claire’s very first knee scrape occurred when she was 21 months old.
I know that there’s a good chance my daughters’ personalities will change as they continue to age and mature. But for the moment — at 22 months and 9 months of age — they are as different as night and day. And while many people remark on their difference in personalities, it is so much more apparent to me, their mother.
It is now clear to me that I cannot help but compare my children to each other. As a result, the best way to approach this would be to acknowledge and embrace each girls’ differences, and try my best not to pressure them to be something they are not, or something they would be unhappy with.
And never, ever, start a sentence with “Why can’t you be more like…”
What if Ronald McDonald were to face Colonel Sanders in a Street Fighter-style brawl? How about Waldo (of “Where’s Waldo?” fame) matched up against the Michelin Man?
That’s exactly what Japanese illustrator Kei Suwabe had in mind when he took figures from pop culture and anime and created a series of unexpected Street Fighter characters. Can you recognize them all?
J is OBSESSED with the Game of Thrones books. Because he has them on his tablet and I prefer physical books over e-books, he bought me the boxed set and asks me EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, “What part are you at now???”
I’m still pretty early in the series, but I have read enough (and heard enough!) to find this video absolutely hilarious:
Even if you don’t know much about Game of Thrones, you may still find it pretty funny — take a look!
Now that I have lost most of the baby weight (just a few more pounds to go!) and can fit into most of my old clothes, I have come to a realization.
“Did I always wear clothes this tight?” I asked J.
“Yep. That shirt looks just the way it used to on you before the babies.”
Because I became pregnant with Aerin just a few months after having Claire, I can safely say that I have spent the majority of the past 2.5 years pregnant and obviously well above my usual weight. I was also no longer working, thus being prompted to dress in loose shabby clothing or maternity wear.
Being able to fit into my old clothes is exciting. But because it has been so long since I have worn these clothes, I had forgotten how they fit. More specifically, how form-hugging they were.
My mind flashed back to a conversation I recently had with a girlfriend. I had treated myself to a girls night out, and we were sipping drinks at one of our old stomping grounds: a lounge that is popular for pre-partying before heading to clubs. As I checked out the scene and noticed the other girls — the majority of them clearly in their early twenties — I asked my friend, “Can you believe what girls are wearing these days? I would never let my daughters walk out of the door like that.”
My friend rolled her eyes. “Oh Jenny, please. We used to wear stuff like this all the time when we went out, remember?”
“No we did not!” I retorted.
“Yes we did. And some of our outfits were way more scandalous than what these girls are wearing. Go look at pictures of us from back then.”
And she was right.
Me, circa 2002. You can’t really tell from this picture, but the
top I am wearing has a lace-up neckline that bares a lot of cleavage.
Has having kids transformed my fashion tastes? Have I become a typical mom in conservative clothes?
I then did a quick assessment of my closet. Can a mother of two pull this off? SHOULD a mother of two wear this?
I know that I am still relatively young (31), and I am constantly told that I look more like I’m in my mid-to-late twenties. I am pretty certain that if I were to don my old, form-fitting clothes, most people wouldn’t bat an eye. I know that I should wear whatever makes me happy, just as long as it is appropriate for the venues I may be attending.
But now I can’t help but ask myself if I feel comfortable wearing these clothes.
And the answer is no. At least, not all of them.
I have always said that my biggest motivation to lose the baby weight is economical — I did not want to buy new clothes! But now that I have become a mother whose fashion sense has become more conservative, I may need to add more mature pieces to my wardrobe.
What do you think? Should mothers dress more conservatively than they did in their pre-baby days? Have you found your taste in fashion growing more conservative as you get older?
There’s only a week and a half left until The Dark Knight Rises hits the theaters! Is anyone else as excited as I am??!!! Because if rumors are to be believed, this final installment of the Christopher Nolan trilogy will be the best yet — and nobody can deny that The Dark Knight will be pretty difficult to beat.
(I recently read that Warner Bros. had originally planned on The Riddler, not Bane, as the primary villain in The Dark Knight Rises. And that they had wanted Leonardo DiCaprio for the role…HOW FREAKIN AWESOME WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?!?? I mean, isn’t Leo just PERFECT for The Riddler? He would have brought to the role the same darkness that Heath Ledger had given The Joker…sigh. Perhaps they will make a future Batman film with this casting in mind.)
In anticipation of what will probably be the biggest film of the summer, Redditor gonzoblair has created an infographic titled “From Kane to Nolan: Seventy Years of Bat Evolution.” Check it out below — and don’t miss what he has titled the Joel Schumacher era!
The Dark Knight Rises will be one of the few films that J and I purposely fork over extra money for the IMAX version, because it was actually shot with IMAX equipment, and not only converted to IMAX in post-production like most other movies. In fact, this movie will contain the most IMAX footage ever for a Hollywood feature. So if you have an IMAX theater nearby, try to see this latest Batman movie in the format for which it was created.
You know me — I can never resist a good logo story! Brought to you by Flavorwire, here are the logos of 10 famous companies, placed side-by-side with their originals:
I like books, gadgets, spicy food, and art. I dislike shopping, hot weather, and the laws of entropy. Although I am a self-proclaimed computer nerd, I still have a love for handbags and makeup... and I am always teetering on high heels. To learn more about me, visit the "About" page.
These represent the current most popular posts (by pageview). If you would like to see a more comprehensive list, please see my Popular Posts page.
 Arkangel James Rollins |
 Revenge of the Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell |
 The White Lotus |
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