So not too long ago I was able to go and see Dear John with a close friend and I loved it! I was such a beautiful story! I want to see it again. I thought I would try my hand at a review of the movie, but I’m not sure how it will turn out?

The movie Dear John is based off the the book (same name) by Nicholas Sparks. Nicholas Sparks has also written books such as The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and the latest (about to be a movie too) The Last Song. I personally haven’t read the book Dear John, but after seeing the movie I think it will be the next book I am getting. The story revolves around John (played by Channing Tatum) and Savannah (played by Amanda Seyfried) and their romance. It starts when they meet during John’s leave from the military and evolves over the next two weeks till John has to go back. They both agree to keep in contact through letters for a year till John is relieved of his duty to the military. However, after the year 9/11 happens and John feels the need to reinlist. The rest of the movie shows whether or not John and Savannah’s romance can survive and how it will affect each other. Dear John is rate PG-13 for some sensuality and violence.

Some of the big issues would be (this may contain spoilers):

Violence:
The reason violence is included in in the rating is because one John (played by Channing Tatum) is a soldier and part of movie shows him overseas whether in Africa or the Middle East.

Two the movie opens with John getting shot by two bullets. Blood is shown is a slow motion way as John is hit.

Three about a fourth through the movie John gets in a fight with some of Savannah’s (played by Amanda Seyfried) friends, who are drunk. While trying to stop the fight another friend of Savannah, Tim, is elbowed in the face by John. We later see Tim’s swollen black eye from the hit (John does apologize for it saying that he didn’t know it was Tim who came behind him).

Sensuality Part:
Nicholas Sparks claims that he doesn’t put premarital sex in his books, however, the movies seem to have them. Though if compared to other movies that have come out Dear John is minor. Dear John contains several kisses, some more passionate, between John and Savannah.  One of the first kisses is shared between John and Savannah as she sits on his lap under a shelter as it is raining.

The interesting thing is that leading up to that kiss Savannah tells John that she “doesn’t sleep around,” yet about halfway through the movie she gives herself to John before he leaves for overseas. This moment takes place in a barn where it is dark. We see John’s bare chest and glimpses of Savannah’s undergarments. Other sensitive parts are covered for view by arms or hair. They kiss passionately but we never actually see them have sex, the scene closes before anything else is shown.

There is also a scene that shows John and Savannah tickling and wrestling with each other while in John’s room.

Language:
From what I remember there was several uses of the sh**, d*mn, h*ll. There were also several misuses of God’s name and Jesus’ name.

Age group I would recommend this for: 17+
Because this movie does contain some sexuality I would recommend it for an older teen audience and up. Teens need to see love that can be true and happy without having sex. So many movies today show that if your “in love” you should have sex. I couldn’t disagree more being what the world says is “being in love” really means “lusting after.” However, Dear John does do a good job at showing a self-sacrificing love (more John’s than Savannah’s). Being a 19 year old girl I of course love romance movies and it is hard to find them nowadays without a ton of sex, but I think that Dear John is a movie that can be shared between mother and daughter or between your friends.

Overall:
Overall I think that this was a great movie that showcased John’s selflessness and love that he had for Savannah. At the same time it shows John’s relationship with his father and how it evolves of the film and John’s feeling of duty that he has to his nation after the 9/11 attack. I think I cried more over what John went through and how he acted during the trying times.  The movie definitely has tons of moments that will make you cry! I would recommend this movie to anyone who one loves romantic dramas, loves Nicholas Sparks’ books/movies, and who needs a little cry. This is a movie with love, sacrifice, pain, happiness, and lessons that could be learned from John, but I don’t want to ruin it for you. So go see it!

Okay so I stumbled across this last night while exploring the internet. It’s a site called Improv Everywhere and it follows a group of people who do just crazy, funny improvs! I watched a ton of the videos last night and was laughing not only at what the group was doing but also at the reactions of the people around them.

Examples of their improvs include:

• Where’s Rob? (one of the members gets “lost” at a knicks game and the whole section at the game is trying to get his attention)
• Cell phone symphony (was able to get a ton of cell phones to go off at the same time in a bookstore)
• Frozen Grand Central Station (had a ton of people all freeze at the same time and stay frozen for I think 5 minutes)

This was sooo cool! I definetly recommend checking it out…it made me laugh!

So the last blog that I created was…well…about 7 months ago…wow! That is definetly not what I had planned especially with the fact that I had hoped to keep updating my blog daily, but as you see that hasn’t really happened. So what has happened in my life in the last 7 months….well let’s see…

Over the summer I had my best friend, Sarah, visit us for a month which was awesome! Sarah’s older sister, Amanda (also a best friend), got married to her long time boyfriend…about time too . It was sooo crazy seeing one of my friends get married! I really realized how old I’m getting. And yes I got a little teary-eyed during the ceremony.

Here is a pic of the wedding party…doesn’t the bride and groom look adorable!

After the summer I went back to school. It was my third semester at the local community college and almost my last semester. I think this one was one of the harder semesters just because I was trying to adjust to getting up earlier and having a job while going to school. It was a big change but defintely a good change. I still need to work on my time management skills, but having to juggle school and work has given me more of a “hey this is the real world” thinking. With only one more semester left till I get my Associate’s Degree Im a little nervous about moving out and to a university (which I still don’t know where I’m going to go). I have applied to two different universities but I’m still not sure which one I’m going to yet. It is harder than I thought to not only pick a school but decide on what you want to do.

So that’s that I guess for now. I hope that you have all had a great year! Happy New Year everyone!! <3

Hello everybody!!!!!

This last semester I had to read quite a lot of literature whether that was an actual book, a play, or poem. So I thought I would share some of the pieces of literature that I read and give my opinion on them.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

This is acutally a play tha I read during my English 102 course and probably my favorite. It is set in the Depression period about a mother (Amanda) and her two adult childern, Laura and Tom. Tom is both a character in the play and the narrator. The play is Tom remembering a past event, which is the main plot of the play. Amanda wants Laura to be married and hopes that Tom can help her find a husband. Tom is not happy at the warehouse that he works or at his home and wishes to leave, this idea makes him and Amanda clash a lot. Toward the end of the play a gentleman caller comes over (a friend of Tom) and Laura realizes that it is the same man that she had a crush on in high school. Both Amanda and Laura hope that something can come out of this meeting, but they find out a little too late that the gentleman caller is already engaged. Because Tom had invited the gentleman caller and didn’t tell anyone he was engaged Amanda blames Tom for embarassing them. This last fight between Tom and Amanda drives him to leave and join the merchant sailors nver seeing his family again, although he never does forget his sister, Laura.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

This book is extremely interesting because when it was originally published people believed that Dante had literally traveled through hell because of the great detailed given in the book. The Inferno, which is actually part of the complete work called The Divine Comedy, is about Dante’s (the character)journey through hell with his guide, Virgil. He travels through hell in hope to reach purgatory and eventually heaven, and the only way to get to heaven is through hell. When I read this one it was quite werid and scary, but defenitely a piece of literature worth reading. In fact there are many authors who have used The Inferno as an inspiration for their own work.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… by Thomas Cathart & Daniel Klein

I used this book for my Critical Thinking class and it was very unhelpful. It didn’t explain philosophical terms very well and had more jokes in it than actual philosophical ideas. It is supposed to help you understand philosophy through jokes, but it doesn’t! And one thing to be aware in this book is that some of the jokes can be sexually crude or have foul language. Some of the joke were funny, but the book is not worth it. Though one of my favorite jokes had to do with inductive logic and it was:

Holmes and Watson are on a camping tri. In the middle of the night Homes wakes up and give Watson a nudge.
“Watson,” he says,”look up in the sky and tell me what you can see.”
“I see millions of stars, Homes,” says Watson.
“And what can you conclude from that Watson?”
Watson thinks for a moment. “Well,” he says, “astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astronomically, I observe that Saturn in is Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignificant. Uh, what does it tell you Holmes?”
“Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”

These three were just some of the ones I thought I would give my opinion on. There were a lot more that you can check out.

English 102

• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (this one is really interesting too)
• Death Knocks by Woody Allen (this one is actually really funny!)
• Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (I would not recommend this book, it was about soldiers and what they carried during the war, but it had quite a lot of foul language)
• The Experience by Jill Tweedie
• Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare
• When Death Comes by Mary Oliver
• One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
• Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas
• Cinderella and The Farmer’s Wife by Anne Sexton
• Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
• The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy
• Five Ways to Kill a Man by Edwin Brock

So for the last couple of days the news has been reporting the reactions to Miss California’s answer to the question about gay marriage. During the competition celebrity blogger and judge of the contest, Perez Hilton, asked Miss California whether or not the rest of America should legalize gay marriage. Her answer was,”In my country, and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.” Perez Hilton asked this because one is he gay and it is a debate that has been in and out of the news for years. Because of the response that Miss California gave Perez Hilton became very angry and blogged about it later calling Miss America a few nasty words.

I just wanted to post this to say in response to Miss California that I think it is wonderful that she believes in a marriage between a man and a woman and the way that God had intended it to be! And not only have that belief but to speak her opinion on national televison! Perez Hilton said that her response is why she did not win Miss America, but even then she still defends her answer saying:

“I was ready for my question, and when I heard it from (Perez), I knew at that moment after I’d answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer,” she said. “Because I had spoken from my heart, for my beliefs and for my God. … It’s not about being politically correct, for me, it’s about being biblically correct.”

This is an amazing response! All I can say is that this is the kind of person that people should be looking up too, she spoke her mind and her belief! And I am definetly supporting her response and her courage to stand behind her belief!

Check out the video of her answer by clicking here

My favorite drink from Starbucks is the Carmel Macchiato. Since my dad has an espresso/coffee maker I decided to search around the internet to find a recipe that was close to how the one from Starbucks tastes. Here is a good one that I found:

• 1/2 cup of espresso (Most espresso cups have a 2 and 4 on it, you want to make enough to fill to the 2 line. This measures out to a 1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla syrup (I use Torani French Vanilla)
• 8 0z cold milk (I use fat free but if you would like whole that is fine too)
• Smucker Caramel topping
• Ice
• 16 0z cup

First make you espresso. While your espresso is brewing, in a 16 oz cup add 2 tablespoons of the vanilla syrup, 8oz cold milk, and ice. You want a lot of ice so I usually fill the cup 3/4 of the way with ice after I put the syrup and milk in the cup. After the espresso is done slowly pour it over the ice. Drizzle with caramel topping. And enjoy!

You can also make this hot by just not adding the ice and using frothed milk.

So it has been a while since I have blogged, but I have been quite busy! With school and other activities it has been kinda of crazy this month. But this week I am on my Spring Break! YAY! I love the break but I am going to hate having to go back to school next week. Anyway my family had a whole bunch of activities going on this week so I was lucky enough to be on break to join them.

First up is Monday. Monday was not very exciting because it was grading period for my brother and sister. So that means helping my mom put together all of their work, making sure that it is graded, and putting the grades into the progress report. After that is all done then we copy the work as a back-up and then send it in (we haven’t done that yet).

Next we have Tuesday. For Tuesday we went to a Culinary Museum in Providence with a bunch of other homeschoolers. That was interesting and I definitely had fun. After that we went and got some lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Providence Place Mall. The food there is amazing!!! I had a Double B.B.Q. Bacon Cheesburger with fries, and I only ate half of that burger!

The last one we have is Wednesday. Yesterday we went bowling with other homeschoolers (this time homeschoolers from our church). Now this wasn’t the normal bowling but candlepin bowling with the smaller bowl and pins. I had so much fun going bowling! I always loved going bowling!

So that is this week so far but we still have the rest of today and Friday. On Friday we have a homeschool gathering between 2-4 pm. I normaly go to every Friday (although I am usually late because my last class ends at 2:50ish pm). In the evening on Friday me, my sister, and my mom are going to a purity event at our church. So that is it for now…

So we just took our dog, Shadow, to the vet and the vet told us that she had gained 12 lbs. since her last visit. To make sure that Shadow lives a long, happy life without diabetes we are supposed to get her to exercise. The vet suggested putting Shadow on the treadmill during the winter months, so….