“You do know I’m gay?”

One of the strangest things I’ve found about being a gay student is the question of when should I come out to a new group of people. I have no problems anymore being open and honest about my sexuality, it’s just a bit weird to figure out when is the right moment to tell people.

In first year I remember that for the first few days I was panicking a little about how was the right way to come out to my flatmates. In the end I decided that the best option was to just leave a note on the fridge announcing that “Oh and by the way I’m gay.” I think that is probably still my favourite way that I have ever come out so far!

In classes I will often end up coming out if the module has an LGBT week, looks at themes of representation or talks about prejudice. Usually I end up sharing part of my own story and then in the process of sharing inadvertently end up coming out to the group.

Some people guess before I say anything that I might be gay, usually they won’t say anything about it until I actually say that I am gay. I wouldn’t say it’s the most obvious thing to guess about me but I think there probably are signs and things which indicate that I’m gay. Plus if someone has heard me speaking about Grant Gustin then it’s probably pretty obvious that I have an enormous crush on him!

One of the most recent occasions when I’ve come out was just saying “You do know I’m gay?” the other week whilst having a wide ranging conversation with a group of friends from my floor. It doesn’t always come up casually in conversation but when it does I often find it kinda funny.

Overall I don’t really mind having to come out. Being gay is just as much a part of me as having brown hair. I just find it interesting the way that coming out changes for me each time based on who I’m talking to and what the situation is.

One Year of My Blog!

Well today it is exactly one year since I wrote ‘Finally Starting A Blog’ and begun Doing It On My Terms.

I’m honestly slightly surprised that I’ve managed to make a full year of blog posts. Certainly if you look at the amount I posted in November and December of 2016 it does look somewhat doubtful if I was going to continue. However one of my New Year Resolutions for 2017 was to work more on my blog and develop it.

One thing that helped me to keep going was when I began the My Haul posts, I love collecting stuff and those posts have given me both the opportunity to share that love of collecting and the chance to show off my latest purchases. I enjoy writing reviews, the Doctor Who reviews where good to write each week and I’m also proud of my Wonder Woman Review.

Probably the post that I have linked to the most is ‘Why Tiana is the Best Disney Princess’ which I seem to have linked to every single time I’ve mentioned anything about Tiana.

Coming to Canada to Study Abroad has also given my blog a new lease of life, I have really enjoyed sharing my thoughts and opinions as I start to learn about this great country. Since I arrived in Canada my views have risen and I know my blog is being read by many people throughout the floor I live on.

I thought for the one year anniversary I would share what the five most popular posts on this blog have been (at the time of writing) and give you my opinion on them in retrospect.

5 – So That’s What Having Friends Is Like!

Honestly it has always slightly surprised me that this has always been one of the most popular posts I have ever written. It was only the second post on the blog and looking back at it I know I could have done better. However I think the honesty I wrote with was good and that sort of honesty is something I’ve always attempted to maintain.

4 – The Start Of Studying Abroad!

This was written pretty quickly because I’d had a goal in mind to write something in the first few days after I arrived in Canada. But I think it does a good job of concisely summing up what I was feeling in those first few days.

3 – Piecing Together The City

Before I began writing this post I worried that it might come across as being a bit too abstract however I think it did a good job of translating how I felt about getting to know a new city in a new country.

2 – Differences in Accommodation

I’m pretty proud of this post, and I am still happy in my accommodation over here. It’s quite appropriate that this post is in the same list as So That’s What Having Friends Is Like because the experience I’m having right now living in accommodation is what I wanted back in first year and what I was reflecting on in that post.

1 – Turns Out Night Classes Are Not So Bad

This is my most viewed post since I began the blog! If I was to guess why this post has been so popular I would say that it’s because the friends I’ve made in Canada are interested to see if they agree with my opinion on night classes and my friends back in the UK are probably curious about what night classes are like because we don’t really have them in the UK.

So, here’s to another year of this blog! I would be interested to know what my reader’s favourite blog posts have been. I hope you will all keep reading as I share my life, hobbies, and interests and just keep doing it on my terms. 

Turns Out Night Classes Are Not So Bad

Studying Abroad in Canada has changed slightly in the past week because I’ve started my classes now. I mentioned this briefly in my last post but now classes have really started so I thought I’d write a brief post about it.

I have no 9 AMs this semester! Even though some classes even begin at 8:30 AM over here. I am probably the only student in the world who doesn’t mind getting up for a 9 AM, in fact it’s unusual for me to wake up after 7:00 AM!  But that’s part of the problem with 9 AMs for me because generally I tend to find that with independent studying I am more productive after lunch time.

On the other end of the day over here in Canada I now have classes that begin at 7 PM and run until 9:50 PM! When I initially saw those times I was shocked however both of my 7 PM classes are on subjects which I really wanted to take which might end up influencing my dissertation, so I gritted my teeth and chose them anyway. Now that I’ve actually had my two evening classes I’ve found that it’s nowhere near as bad as I initially thought that they might be. Probably the only downside is that at the moment it’s still light when I go in but it is dark and beginning to get cold when I leave the class room.

One thing that I know that my family and friends back in the UK are probably wondering is what are classes like in Canada? Are they easier or harder than they are back in the UK? Well I’ve mainly had introductory classes so far but I will say that rather than being easier or harder Canadian classes are different. For example there’s more assignments throughout the semester however they’re generally not as long as assignments in the UK and having multiple ones contributing to the overall grade throughout the semester means that the pressure is taken off the final exam.

So overall even though classes have begun I am still really enjoying being in Canada and studying abroad. And it turns out that night classes are not so bad.

The Princess and the Frog Deserves More

As you probably know The Princess and The Frog is my favourite Disney movie. One of the very first posts on this blog was about how awesome Princess Tiana is. I watched Princess and the Frog again about a week ago and it struck me how this movie deserves so much more than it gets. So here’s some things that I would like to see if Disney ever decide to give Princess and the Frog more attention.

A Sequel

·         The ending of Princess and the Frog neatly tied up Tiana and Naveen’s story however there’s still potential for more from them.

·         Tiana got her restaurant at the end of The Princess and the Frog but what came next? Would her restaurant be a success?

·         Tiana marrying into royalty and Naveen steeping away from his royal status and settling down in New Orleans could create interesting situations for the two of them that could be a source of emotional conflict in a sequel.

A Prequel

·         Generally Disney Prequels have a bad reputation but I think some sort of prequel for the Princess and the Frog could actually be very interesting.

·         At the start of Princess and the Frog we saw that Tiana has been best friends with Charlotte La Bouff since they were both very young. This is friendship between a rich white girl and a black girl in America in the early part of the 20^th Century, which has so much potential to be explored further!

·         Another possible sequel could be more about the villainous Dr. Facilier. Facilier is a voodoo witch doctor that got his powers from his ‘friends on the other side’ and yet throughout the movie he seems to be scared of their power. Usually I don’t think villain origin stories are needed however I think Facilier’s could be fascinating.

TV Series

·         If Tangled can have a TV Series why not Princess and the Frog? Some of the ideas I mentioned for both a prequel and a sequel could be incorporated into a TV Series. There’s more stories to tell about Tiana and Naveen and probably more than just one movie could do justice to.

·         I’d be interested to watch episodes about the day to day adventures of Tiana running her restaurant and more of her friendship with Charlotte. Showing Tiana and Charlotte’s friendship would be interesting as Disney Princesses tend not to have female friends.

·         A TV Series could also be a good way to explore other voodoo threats which might be lurking down in New Orleans. There’s definite potential for villains of the week with new and interesting voodoo powers.

Stage Show

·         The songs are fun and upbeat. There’s lots of scenes that are bright and colourful. Both of these are things that I think would mean that Princess and the Frog would translate well onto the stage.

·         Perhaps the most difficult part of translating Princess and the Frog onto the stage would be the animals and magic from the film, however given Aladdin, The Lion King and Frozen are all already/going to be stage shows I don’t think it would be too difficult for Disney to do.

Live-action Remake

·         The biggest thing a live-action remake could do for Princess and the Frog is have Tiana stay human for longer. A lot of people are (rightly) annoyed that Disney’s first black princess spent half the movie as a frog so that’s something a remake could fix.

·         Some of the aspects I mentioned for a prequel - Tiana’s friendship with Charlotte and Facilier’s ‘friends on the other side’ – could also be developed further in a remake.

·         Disney’s live-action remakes tend to look grand and spectacular. Princess and the Frog is already a very aesthetically pleasing movie and a remake could use that with the movie’s setting of New Orleans.

A Ride

·         Obviously opening Tiana’s restaurant want be the most obvious way to incorporate the film into the Disney Parks however I’d personally like to see a ride as well so that if you didn’t want to have a meal you could still get to experience the film.

·         Disney have already done dark rides based on princess films (like Snow White and The Little Mermaid) before so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine something similar for Princess and the Frog.

·         However I personally would like to see a Splash Mountain style water ride. A water ride feels like a good fit based on the part of the film where Naveen and Tiana travel through the Bayou.

So if it’s not obvious I love Princess and the Frog. It’s a great movie but it’s one that Disney often overlooks in its animated cannon which is such a shame as there’s real potential for more instalments.

Lois Lane YA Novels – Review

Yesterday I finished reading Triple Threat by Gwenda Bond, the latest novel in the YA Lois Lane series. Yes, I mean Lois Lane as in Superman and Lois Lane.

About a fortnight back I read on Twitter that there was a series of YA novels about Lois Lane starting her career as a journalist. I was intrigued and thought it might be worth a read. I bought the first book, Fallout and have been hooked since then. The Lois Lane series is about a young teen journalist investigating weird and unexplained things in Metropolis. That basic premise reminds me a bit of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which in my opinion is a very good thing. It is a YA series but these are entertaining and gripping mystery novels that transcend the clichéd tropes of YA. Reading this series has definitely shifted my opinion of Lois Lane. Before I kind of just assumed that she was the stereotypical superhero girlfriend damsel in distress. After reading the series that opinion has been changed. To put it another way, when I saw a rumour that Lois Lane was going to get a DC Superhero Girls doll I didn’t understand why, now I really hope they release one!

Fallout is the first book in the series and sets the general tone for the series. Lois Lane is newly arrived in Metropolis, she’s trying to stay out of trouble and make friends. Lois is successful at making friends with her team of young journalists at The Daily Planet’s new teen aimed news site. But she completely fails at staying out of trouble as she starts to investigate something strange happening at her new school. This book deals with bullying and technology being misused, out of the three books I would say it is the most concerned with real world issues though it still has a strong sci-fi mystery.

Double Down then continues the story. Lois is now more confident in her abilities as a journalist and takes on an ambitious new assignment. I think this book really highlighted one of the biggest strengths of the series, the supporting cast of characters. Lois has a strong group of friends – whom she befriended in Fallout – and in Double Down they are just as important to the plot as Lois Lane herself. Also Double Down has arguably some of the most intense moments in the entire series as Lois gets herself into a situation that turns out to be way more complicated than it initially appeared.

Triple Threat is the latest novel in the series. It pulls together several loose ends from the previous books. I feel that if I say too much I will possibly accidentally spoil Fallout and Double Down.  But if Triple Threat is the last book in the series then it’s a satisfying ending, however I really hope that there’s a fourth book!

As someone who is a pretty hard-core DC Comics fanboy I found it really interesting to read a series about the DC universe before it becomes the more recognisable DC universe. What I mean by that is when these books are set Clark Kent has yet to become Superman, Barry Allen has yet to be struck by lightning, Diana Prince has yet to leave Themyscira and so on. This makes the stories of Lois Lane’s investigations even more interesting as weird stuff is not yet widely accepted as part of daily life for people within the novel.

I’d recommend the Lois Lane YA series for comic and superhero fans, fans of mystery novels and in general people who enjoy reading stories about competent female protagonists who know what they want and go get it. With Lois Lane getting her chance to shine in these novels, Wonder Woman finally hitting the big screen very soon, Supergirl on TV and the DC Superhero Girls toys quite widely available it’s good to see that DC have made such a serious commitment to their female characters. Long may it continue!

Doctor Who – Thin Ice Review

The first trip into the past for Bill delivered yet another solid Doctor Who adventure.

I compared last week’s episode to 2010’s The Beast Below, however with a creature being held captive for the gains of the human characters Thin Ice managed to echo The Beast Below more in some ways!

Peter Capaldi once more shines as the Doctor. This series is just proving that – as I know some people have said – he was always going to be an amazing Doctor if he was just given good scripts. There’s a speech that the Doctor gives in this episode that I feel is going to end up ranking right up there amongst the very best of the Doctor’s speeches.

Thin Ice managed to balance how to show the Doctor’s guilt and shame over killing with the optimistic hero that he should be. I really don’t like it when the Doctor is written as a tortured hero, that’s not who he is! Yes he can get grumpy and angry but at the end of the day he is always a hero and an optimist. I know the counterargument is that because he’s lived so long and fought in the Time War he should be tortured however I think Thin Ice showed perfectly how to get the right balance.

Doctor Who has always been at its very best when the companion is allowed to shine and show off their strengths. Bill continues to be an interesting character to watch and a refreshing change after Clara Oswald’s more smug tendencies. She has some great one-liners that made me genuinely laugh out loud, however I think her strongest traits are her enquiring mind and her strong sense of compassion. It was interesting to see a companion actually struggling to deal with the fact that the Doctor’s adventures often involve death. I might be wrong, but I think this is one of the first times we have ever seen a companion be shocked at a death in Doctor Who.

Another thing that was refreshing to see in an episode of Doctor Who was an acknowledgement that racism is a thing that existed in the past. This episode wasn’t defined by dealing with racism but it was referenced and acknowledged. It makes sense to at least address racism in the past given that Bill is a black woman in Regency England.

Episodes where it’s the humans who are the real monsters are quite common within Doctor Who, 2008’s Planet of the Ood or the various Silurian stories being a couple of examples of that type of story. Thin Ice certainly falls into that bracket. This style of episode can either be really well done or come across as too heavy handed in its message, fortunately Thin Ice managed to do this story well. However I do still hope that soon we get an episode with a proper big bad monster.

The way that this series is all set around (or keeps referencing) the university that the Doctor is teaching at feels quite reminiscent of the way that UNIT kept reoccurring throughout the 3^rd Doctor era to me. In the 3^rd Doctor era the Doctor worked for UNIT as their scientific advisor and many stories would partially revolve around UNIT. This similarity to the UNIT era of Doctor Who is further heightened with Nardole’s frequent appearances and the way that Smile and Thin Ice followed on from each other. I personally am all for this sort of grounding and connectedness between the episodes.

I think that Thin Ice was another solid episode for this series that delivered on the emotional potential of its context and managed to rise beyond being just another historical episode.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

Today is National Superhero Day and I saw the latest offering from the Marvel Cinematic Universe today. I’m going to try keep low on spoilers throughout review but I apologise in advance if I accidentally reveal something that you didn’t want to know.

In my opinion this movie has succeeded at that rare thing, creating a sequel that betters the original. The things that everyone loves about the first one – like the humour, the music and Groot – are all back. Marvel seem to have thought about what made the first movie work and then given us more of that for the sequel.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a very funny movie – there were lots of moments that made all the cinema laugh out loud. But this movie is also one of the most emotionally charged superhero/comic book movies that I think I have ever seen. There were a couple of moments in the cinema that I was actually very close to tears. If things about families make you emotional then I won’t be surprised if it makes you cry too.

With the main team already established in the first film this one has a lot more chance to develop the characters. This is really obvious with Drax, in the first movie he did little more than deliver one-liners, however this time it actually feels like he has become a fully rounded character.

I was pleased to see that Gamora has also been given a lot more character development this time round. In the first film it felt like (at times) she was only there as little more than the token woman on the team. However for Vol. 2 she has a very compelling character arc which also involves some interesting stuff about the nature of her relationship with her sister Nebula.

Nebula and Gamora aren’t the only women in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, this time we are also introduced to Mantis. She’s a bit unique amongst big screen female superheroes in that she is actually allowed to be a more emotional character instead of a battle hardened badass. Mantis is an empath, however unlike most on screen empaths she doesn’t just sense things in vague ways (looking at Deanna Troi from Star Trek The Next Generation), Mantis gets to be involved in the action. I’m intrigued to see more of her in subsequent Guardians films.

Another thing I like about the Guardians of the Galaxy films is how they exist (comparatively) separately from the rest of the Marvel universe. Yes they are a part of everything else, yes things are set up for subsequent film. But for the most part these movies don’t require you to have an in-depth knowledge of all that came before.

I realise that I’ve got quite far into this review without discussing much about the plot. I’m not sure how much I can actually say about this movie’s plot without actually giving something majorly important away. But I will say that it involves the Guardians saving the Galaxy again and the villain is one of the best we have seen from Marvel for a long time.

Basically if you didn’t like the first Guardians of the Galaxy you won’t like this one. However if you did enjoy the first one then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this second outing for the team.  It’s awesome!

Maleficent and Beauty and the Beast

Maleficent is the Disney Movie of the Month. The live-action Beauty and the Beast is out now. It was inevitable that I wrote a post about these two movies!

I’ve previously talked about my feelings on Disney’s live-action remakes. I think that if they’re done well then it’s a great idea. As I said in my initial post, I enjoyed Maleficent and as I briefly mentioned in my post about what’s been happening lately that I really liked the new Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast represents something new for Disney’s live action remakes in that it is the first one which is a musical. However it’s interesting that – as my friends and I were saying afterwards - the way the songs were arranged and presented in Beauty and the Beast felt more like a stage musical than a traditional Disney musical. I also mentioned in my post on Maleficent that I felt the structure was quite play-like. It’s interesting how live action is bringing out such a strong element of theatricality in these stories.

Maleficent and Beauty and the Beast both have really compelling protagonists. Angelina Jolie was great as Maleficent, her performance really delivered on all the emotional notes that were needed to turn a villain into a sympathetic character. But she was also excellent at the moments of camp arch villainy. Emma Watson delivered a wonderful performance as Belle. She felt truly believable as an intelligent young woman who wants more out of life.

One thing that real stands out and impresses me about both of these movies is the quality of the CGI. Obviously because Disney is such a big company they can afford really good CGI but that doesn’t make the visual effects any less impressive. From dragons and vast fairy-tale landscapes to the Beast and the enchanted objects, realisation of the CGI elements and the blending of live-action and CGI in both films is amazing. They really do a good job of bringing the most fantastical elements of the hand drawn animations to life.

Another thing that really stands out for both these movies - and this also applies to Cinderella - is that they have a really strong look. The fairy-tale world that is being realised on screen has a distinctive aesthetic and is really engaging for the viewer to watch. I hope this trend of the live action remakes being visual treats is one that is going to continue for as long as Disney keep remaking their archive.

I feel that in doing Beauty and the Beast Disney has learnt a big lesson from Maleficent.  One of my biggest problems with Maleficent was its loyalty the source material which lead to the inclusion of Prince Phillip and the Three Good Fairies who really were not needed.  If you’re going to include things because they were there in the original then just make sure they’re needed. Beauty and the Beast certainly managed this, it didn’t feel like anyone or anything was superfluous.

Basically Beauty and the Beast and Maleficent are both very enjoyable movies and I like both of them. They’re tonally very different but that works for the different stories that they’re trying to tell. Disney are showing no signs of stopping on the remakes but if they can keep up the good work then I’m not worried.

Student Life – Avoiding The Student Bubble

It’s pretty much a fact of student life that you get sucked into the ‘student bubble’. Yet –partially because I’m doing it on my terms – I kind of feel like I’ve avoided becoming completely sucked into the ‘student bubble’.

By the ‘student bubble’ I mean the way that some students end up living their life in a way that means more or less everything revolves around university and being a student. I know people who seemingly do things just because that’s what a student is supposed to do rather than their being any sense of independence attached to it. I know people who haven’t explored the city and embraced some of the opportunities that are on our doorstep. Why do some people just seem intent on having a completely generic student experience instead of breaking out of the routine of the ‘student bubble’?

I’m not trying to shame anyone here. I have nothing against routine, I’m a naturally organised person so I enjoy having a routine. For example Monday’s I meet up with my friends for coffee (I’ve talked about that in this post). Tuesday evening is Disney Soc. And every Saturday morning just before 9AM I go out into the city and have my weekly Saturday Shop, (see my haul posts).

In my first year I lived in the off campus accommodation block. At my uni most of the residences are on campus but there’s one block which is in the city at the opposite side of the city centre to the university campus. I think living in the city during first year was a really great thing to happen to me. I’m sure living on campus has lots of benefits but I relished the sense of independence that I had from essentially being left out on my own. Living in the city meant I couldn’t rely on eateries on campus like some students do, I had to learn how to cook (I talked about this previously inanother post). I had to learn the bus system, which might sound like something fairly basic but it’s something that I noticed trips up a lot of second years who lived on campus. Living in the city also meant I got a real appreciate for having the city on my doorstep.

At the end of the day I am a naturally independent person and I do enjoy being a little different and doing it on my terms. I just don’t understand how and why some people let themselves get trapped in the student bubble.

Maleficent – Disney Movie of the Month

It’s March, that means it’s time for a new Disney Movie of the Month. In January I looked at Aladdin – an Animated Classic – and in February I looked at A Bugs Life – a Pixar movie. So for the third Disney Movie of the Month it seemed like it was time to look at a live action movie and I chose 2014’s Maleficent.

Maleficent was released back in 2014 and is the live action reimagining of the 1959 animated Sleeping Beauty. Angelina Jolie plays the titular character who is given a more sympathetic backstory in this darker take on the original film. Maleficent is one of my favourite villains – more on that in a follow up post later this month. I originally saw Maleficent in the cinema about a week after it was released and yet I haven’t watched it since then. Until today.

I’d forgotten just how strong Angelina Jolie’s performance as Maleficent is. She clearly relished playing the moments when the story requires her to be a slightly camp arch villain, but she’s also faultless when required to convey some very strong emotion material. I was very pleased to rediscover just how wonderful Angelina Jolie’s performance was.

Maleficent is not a regular adaption of Sleeping Beauty, it is very much its own thing. It has moments for Disney fans to spot that reference the original – such as the forest of thorns, the speech when Maleficent curses Aurora and the dragon. But it also rejects a lot of the tropes of the Disney Princess format and I stronger because of that. However at times it also has a loyalty to the source material that can get in the way of the films full potential. For example Maleficent gives us an infuriating take on the three good fairies who are absolutely useless. As well as trying to shoehorn Prince Phillip into the story for literally no other reason than he’s supposed to be there. The movie could have been much stronger if Phillip and the three good fairies were just completely cut out of it.

I can’t really write about Maleficent without mentioning that there’s definitely some similarities with Wicked. Both movies take a green skinned villain from a popular fairy-tale and retell her story to make her a more sympathetic and feminist character. However they are both very different stories. I think Wicked may have partially been an inspiration for Maleficent, but I don’t think that Maleficent is a rip off of Wicked.

Part of the appeal of these live action remakes for me is seeing the way that Disney brings the animated original to life. I like that despite many changes elsewhere the design team chose to keep Maleficent’s look more or less the same. In the case of the original Sleeping Beauty the movie has a strong medieval aesthetic, when adapting it for live action the production team chose a cool dark gothic style that I think really suits the movie.

Another more technical thing that I love about this movie is the structure of the story. The pivotal moment in the story of Sleeping Beauty is when the dark fairy (Maleficent herself) curses the infant princess. The entire story hinges on that moment. So when it came to telling the story of Sleeping Beauty from the villain’s perspective Disney decided to restructure the narrative so that act one is building up to why  Maleficent places the curse on Aurora and how she becomes the ‘Mistress of All Evil!’ And then act two of the movie deals with redeeming her, as Maleficent faces the consequences of her actions. This structure would actually work well if Disney ever wanted to do a stage adaptation of Maleficent!

In conclusion, Maleficent is definitely worth watching. It’s not an adaptation of the 1959 Sleeping Beauty, it is an interesting alternate take on a well-known story that shifts the focus onto the villain and makes her a tragic hero. 

Single Awareness Day? Seriously!

It’s February 14^th today, it’s Valentine’s Day.

In recent years I’ve noticed that there’s been a trend amongst single people to call today Single Awareness Day. Seriously? That name is strange because are you not aware that you’re single the other 364 days of the year? I understand the sentiment to an extent but to me it just seems mean spirited to be so begrudging of couples wanting to be affectionate with each other.

On the other end of the spectrum however you have couples who see Valentine’s Day as an obligation. Surely if you love your partner you should tell them that throughout the rest of the year? And if you don’t realise that Valentine’s Day is coming up and only do something last minute because you feel obliged to then surely that also defeats the point of it.

At the end of the day we shouldn’t feel like we have to celebrate a relationship and we shouldn’t feel like we’re being judged if we’re not in one. I’m someone who’s never had a relationship (there’s a long story in that, maybe it’ll be another blog post) and I’m alright with that because I know that I don’t want to rush into something. As The Supremes’ sang back in 1966 ‘You can't hurry love, No, you just have to wait, You gotta trust, give it time, No matter how long it takes.’

So regardless of if you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with your loved one today or if you’ll be playing (and singing along to) Beyoncé’s Single Ladies I hope you have a great day.

Student Food – Stop being so cliché!

It really feels like it is long overdue for people to stop being so cliché about student food.

I came to uni with a basic knowledge of cooking, nothing too elaborate but I knew enough to get by on. First week of first semester I really wasn’t eating too well and it was genuinely having an effect on my mentality and feeling of wellness. I just decided there and then that I should start trying to cook and making sure I was eating better. Since then I’ve never looked back.

I’ve done my own spin on family recipes. I’ve come up with my own dishes (three ingredient Spag Bol). I do Mary Berry and Nigella recipes. I just like cooking for myself.

Eating well definitely helps me to feel healthier and happier. I tend to get ill less often than most and I think part of that if down to me having a good diet. It also works out slightly cheaper for me on average if I’m making food instead of eating out, getting take aways or having ready meals.

To be clear I’m not condemning anyone who has just ready meals or take aways. I do eat out or have a ready meal or take away occasionally but it’s usually more of a treat. I do ‘cheat’ whilst cooking – for example I never bother making rice, I prefer to use microwave rice. I’ve just found cooking proper meals to be something that’s surprisingly easy, something that has made a positive impact on my health, something that’s enjoyable and most importantly it’s something that tastes good.

Wait, that actually happens in real life?

So yesterday afternoon took an unexpected turn for the better when I just bumped into a couple of friends in a coffee shop.

Honestly before yesterday I probably would have laughed at the idea that people just happened to meet their friends unexpectedly in coffee shops. It just sounds so cliché! But then yesterday afternoon I’d just been checking out what one of my local charity shops had in, I walked past the coffee shop next door and saw a couple of my friends sat in the window. I popped in to say hi and we ended up chatting for quite a while.

This has got me thinking about how the way that we interact with each other as students is in a lot of ways very strange.

As student’s people rarely seem to go round to each other’s flats or house, why is that? It’s not like we have to ask our parents’ permission to invite a friend over anymore! But even someone like me who’s always struggled a bit socially seemed to have friends over and go over to friends’ houses more often back when we had to ask our parents.

I also think its interesting (and slightly worrying) how so much of our contact and interaction with each other is digital. So often it seems that you only really know what someone has been up to through what they’ve been posting on Facebook.

Another thing that I find quite isolating is that most people seem to mainly socialise on nights out involving drinking. Nothing wrong with enjoying that but it does mean that people (like me) who don’t like alcohol seem to be left out a lot of the time.

That’s just my opinion and experience. Maybe it’s completely different to the general story. But I personally want more meetings in coffee shops with my friends.

Being Back at Uni after Christmas

I have started my Second Semester of my Second Year. In my last post I wrote about my thoughts and feelings to be going back to uni after Christmas, this time I’m writing about my thoughts and feelings now that I’m back.

We broke up for Christmas quite late this year which meant that we returned to Uni midway into January. I’ve found – and sparking to my friends I’m not the only one feeling like this – that coming back after Christmas break when Christmas was so long ago feels very strange.  There’s no Fresher’s Week for second semester and so it’s straight back into seminars and reading. I don’t mind this but it’s certainly disorientating after a four week Christmas break.

One of my favourite parts of starting a new semester is going on a Book Hunt! I enjoy having a list of books that I need to read that semester and walking around the bookshops in the city to buy them all. I know I could just download them all on Kindle but I much prefer having a paper copy to put on my shelf (and I know my mum is strongly agreeing with that sentiment as she’s reading this blog post!)

For some reason it always surprises me just how much I need to buy over the first week. I don’t know why given I’ve come back to uni after a break five times. But every day since I got back on Saturday I have had to go out to get something I need – from another carton of orange juice to shaving cream to pasta. Do any other students find that they’re constantly restocking on stuff when they get back, even if they did a shop on their way back?

On the whole I feel happy to be back and I’ve enjoyed my first few days of my first week of my second semester. It just does feel a little strange to be back!

Aladdin – Disney Movie of the Month

Starting off a new regular feature on the blog with Aladdin.

So it’s a new year and for this year I am planning on having a Disney Movie of the Month for every month of the year on this blog. I will watch a Disney movie at the start of each month, then I will post a review/opinion/thoughts piece and then I shall aim to follow up on that with other posts about that movie later on in the month. The first Disney Movie of the Month is Aladdin.

I used to watch Aladdin a lot when I was a kid but then I lost my copy of it on DVD and until recently I hadn’t seen it for about a decade. So when I watched it for the first time in years back in December I was worried that I was going to be disappointed, however I was pleased to find that it’s actually still a really enjoyable movie.

On paper the story might not be the most original, as a Disney fan Aladdin definitely feels like it’s got a lot of familiar moments, but it’s the characters and the sense of humour that runs throughout which really makes this movie work.

Obviously everyone knows the Genie but he really is a funny and likeable character. Robin Williams’ performance is just as enjoyable in 2017 as it was when I watched the movie as a kid.

Jafar might be a villain in the typical ‘mad, bad and evil’ mould but sometimes villains like that are just fun. As people who know me can tell you I think Maleficent is awesome, partially because of the 2014 live action movie but also because all out evil villains are just fun to watch sometimes. And that is certainly the case with Jafar.

Jasmine is also interesting. She might not be as powerful as Elsa, as brave as Merida or as determined as Tiana, but Jasmine is certainly not a passive princess. She’s way more interesting than the likes of Snow White and Cinderella. Also it’s worth pointing out that the fictional kingdom of Agrabah is a Muslim country, thus meaning that Jasmine is a Muslim Disney Princess making her a more progressive character for Disney than she may initially seem.

In conclusions, sometimes I’ve found that Disney movies which everyone seems to love but I’ve not seen in ages/never seemed don’t live up to the hype – like The Little Mermaid for example. However Aladdin did not disappoint me.

My Thoughts on The Return Of Doctor Mysterio

Wait… is Doctor Who good again? 

Well I certainly think it seems to be heading back in the right direction based on the 2016 Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This episode was a fun romp with moments of creepiness and emotional drama that would not have felt out of place in the David Tennant era of the show. I could write a lot about where Doctor Who has gone wrong recently, what I’d like to see happen and why I even liked it in the first place but for the purpose of this blog post I’m not going to dwell on that.

When I first heard that Doctor Who was doing superheroes I was very worried that it would come across as bitter. After all, in recent years Marvel and DC have just become bigger and bigger as Doctor Who has struggled to retain its fan base. But The Return of Doctor Mysterio wasn’t bitter, it knew the tropes of the genre and it had fun with them but not in a way that seemed resentful or insulting to superhero fans. Also does anyone else think it was intentional that The Ghost’s alter ego was called Grant given the Flash is played by Grant Gustin and both The Flash and The Ghost have super speed and have a quiff?

The monsters – Harmony Shoal - might not be new classics but they served the story well. This whole story had the feel of trying to evoke the spirit of noughties Doctor Who and let’s be honest the Harmony Shoal were very reminiscent of the Slitheen. But is it a bad thing to have a monster that’s like a monster from a fan favourite era of the show when you’re trying to relaunch?

To me it’s often felt like Peter Capaldi has never been allowed to reach his full potential as the Doctor. Sure he’s got to do dramatic stuff but a lot of the scripts have required him to be overly grumpy in a not very Doctorish way. In The Return of Doctor Mysterio he was allowed a sense of humour, there were moments that genuinely made me and my family laugh whilst we were watching. Capaldi always comes across in interviews as an incredibly warm hearted and kind person and that’s a very Doctorish trait but one he’s never really been allowed to express too much in the role. However I felt like The Return of Doctor Mysterio finally allowed us to see that, it remained us that yes the Doctor does love humans and that’s why he saves the Earth so many times.

So is Doctor Who good again? I think that yes it possibly is. I think it feels like the show is returning tonally to the run of mostly amazing episodes from 2005 – 2013. I am tentatively excited and if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to go by then we should be in for another good season of Doctor Who in 2017!

How is it Christmas Eve already?

Happy Christmas to everyone who’s been reading my blog so far!

But I suspect I’m not the only one here who on Christmas Eve is wondering how it can possibly be December 24^th already!

I know there’s something of a cliché that advent flies by every year but this year it really feels like it’s gone by fast. A lot has happened over the past 24 days, such as finding out where I’m going on my Year Abroad next year (I’ll be in Ontario, Canada!), my university was also quite late in breaking up for Christmas this year (we started a week later), and I’ve written a ton of coursework (seriously in the past month I’ve written about 11,000 words of coursework!)

Obviously I am very excited about Christmas tomorrow, I wouldn’t be writing a blog post about Christmas Eve if I wasn’t! It’s just that every single year the countdown to Christmas takes me by surprise.

(Also I know it’s been a while since I last posted on here, but I promise I am going to try to get better next year!)

A Few Thoughts on Moana (Spoiler Free)

I saw Moana in 3D this afternoon and here’s a few of my (spoiler free) thoughts on the latest Disney movie.

My main reaction upon leaving the cinema was that whilst I had enjoyed the movie - and it is a good movie - I didn’t love it. This the type of movie that’s good but it could have been great. I remember back in early 2014 Disney announced that Moana had jumped forward a year in the schedule (partially as a result of the crazy success of Frozen) I feel that Moana probably would have really benefited from that extra year in production.

To me Moana felt like a strange hybrid of a movie that both wanted to be a Disney Princess movie and a movie that really didn’t want to be a Disney Princess movie. It used a lot of the tropes that we’ve come to expect from the Disney Princess movies – like the way Tangled lovingly used the tropes of the Princess movies – but Moana didn’t own its use of those tropes. Moana also defied a lot of the tropes from the Disney Princess movies – like Brave did – however it never fully went with rejecting the tropes we’ve seen from the Princess movies.

Another problem was that Maui was not a strong enough character to hold the number of scenes he had. I feel this movie needed a character like Olaf from Frozen – someone to provide helpful advice, heart-warming moments, humour and just generally help keep the plot moving. But instead of Olaf we got stuck with Maui.

Also I have to mention the music. What a let-down! The songs just don’t really work – there’s no Let It Go, Almost There, I See The Light, A Whole New World or Colours of the Wind. I found them really forgettable and unneeded. I think Moana would have been a stronger movie if like Brave it had chosen to not include songs. Perhaps without the forced songs it would have felt like the filmmakers knew more what they were doing with the tropes of the Disney Princess movies?

That’s enough of the negative. I’m making it sound like I hated the movie when I really didn’t!

Here’s a list of a few of the thing I really enjoyed about Moana…

• ·         Moana herself is a cool character.
• ·         The visuals are stunning.
• ·         Moana grows as a character throughout the movie. She’s not automatically perfect.
• ·         The scenes in the ‘Realm of Monsters’ is like nothing Disney have ever done before.
• ·         Pua (Moana’s pet pig) is adorable!
• ·         Seriously the animation is incredible.
• ·         Moana did a great job at world building.
• ·         The Kakamora were a really interesting and creative adversary.
• ·         Did I mention that the animation is REALLY good looking!

In conclusion I did enjoy Moana but considering how good Disney have been lately this is a bit of a let-down after Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootropolis. Moana is a good movie but it really suffers from the bar being set so high by what came before it.

Give Ghostbusters 2016 a Chance

Who ya gonna call? Well I’m going to be calling the 2016 Ghostbusting team.

So it’s probably safe to say that the new Ghostbusters was the most decisive movie of 2016 and today marks the DVD’s UK release. This is my (spoiler free) opinion of why you should give the 2016 Ghostbusters a chance.

It’s actually a genuinely funny movie. I saw it originally in the cinema with my Dad and both of us laughed throughout the movie. Not all the jokes work but they come quick enough that if one misses it doesn’t matter. I was also very pleasantly surprised that it completely avoided making sexist, racist or sizeist jokes at the expense of the cast.

Women in science. We all know women are underrepresented in STEM careers, according to the Guardian in 2014 women made up ‘just 12.8% of the Stem workforce’. Obviously a movie is not going to change this but a successful movie with 3 of its female leads specialising in STEM provides exposure and representation that in the long run may influence a generation of women to pursue STEM.

The original Ghostbusters approve of it. According to repeated social media trolls, one reason why the new Ghostbusters was destroying the legacy of the original movies. I find this ironic given the original cast - from Bill Murray to Sigourney Weaver – cameo in the new movie.

It’s accessible for everyone. I went into the cinema with very little knowledge of the original Ghostbusters movies and I enjoyed it. There’s no need to have an in depth knowledge of what went before but if you are an uber Ghostbusters fan then there’s enough references to the originals to appeal to you.

The hope for a second outing for the new Ghostbusters team now solely rests upon DVD sales, streaming and downloads. I hope enough people pay to watch it that Sony is convinced that a sequel would be profitable.

To Unbox or Not To Unbox?

As a toy collector I am very familiar with that feeling of ‘should I take this out of the box?’ whenever I add something new to my collection. Anyone who knows me probably knows that I collect toys. All sorts of toys, from plushies to action figures to dolls.

The majority of the time my response is yes, I should unbox it - this reaction is probably due to how many times I’ve seen Toy Story 2 over the years! I usually unbox, remove tags and recycle the packaging (unless the packaging could be reused in a project) as soon as I can after buying something.

I know there’s a mentality that toys must always be kept in their box because that way they’re guaranteed to be worth more. That is a valid point however the reason toys from the 60s are worth so much in their packaging is because the packaging was destroyed in most cases. Toys from today are unlikely to gain as much value if they’re kept in their packaging as so many collectors leave them in their packaging that the market will probably become over-saturated. Plus it just seems sad that someone’s whole reason for buying a toy is to resell it later on.

Every so often I’ll come across something that stumps me. I have an unmasked 2015 SDCC Flash figure who I know I should be keeping packaged and I kept him in his packaging for a few months until I just had to remove him! And on the other end of the spectrum I bought an Elsa and Anna twin pack intending to unbox them but more or less as soon as I’d unboxed them I regretted taking the Frozen sisters out of the box.

Dolls I have found to be a particularly confusing group when it comes to if I should keep them boxed or not. Sometimes in the box a doll will be posed in a certain way or have their hair or clothes in a certain way that looks great but the second you take them out of the box that look is ruined. Other times a doll will need to be ripped out of the box as soon as possible because they look a mess in their box and urgently need a little TLC.

Generally I’ve figured out that I collect toys because they make me happy and I enjoy the experience of collecting. Therefore as it’s something that makes me happy I know it also makes me happy to not leave toys boxed up.