Hello all! I am Callie. Writing is kind of my thing. That and trying to teach others about different cultures in a move to make the world slightly more tolerant. Why can't we all just get along? Anywho, you'll find a little of everything here about books, television shows, movies, comic books (who doesn't love 'em?), religions, mythology, and of course mythical creatures! Any questions? Hit me up through twitter or my email.
"If you can't handle my worst, you ain't getting my best."
Earlier, I wrote a post about schizophrenia. In it, I described the different symptoms and what is believed to cause the disorder. I; however, failed to address the four different types of schizophrenia that exist and will remedy that in this post.
The Schizophrenic Brain
Paranoid Schizophrenia:
Paranoid schizophrenia is the type that generally comes to mind when people think of schizophrenia. This is because paranoid schizophrenics are the most common - in real life and in the fictional world. Paranoid schizophrenics have hallucinations and delusions but relatively normal intellectual and emotional expressions. Most paranoid schizophrenics exhibit anger, social isolation, are argumentative, and have anxiety. This is generally regarded as the most dangerous of all the types of schizophrenia because of the delusions and hallucinations.
Jack in The Shining is an example of extreme Paranoid Schizophrenia
Disorganized Schizophrenia:
Disorganized schizophrenia is when the schizophrenic has disorganized speech. If you remember my previous post about schizophrenia, you will know that this is characterized by trouble speaking, chopped speech, or simply saying inappropriate things in context of the conversation. Disorganized schizophrenics also have trouble in social situations because they do not always do the appropriate thing. This can also disrupt their day to day lives. An example would be randomly laughing while trying to get dressed. It is difficult to understand the actions of a disorganized schizophrenic and sometimes it can be scary. A lot of schizophrenics in this category seem to be preoccupied with their own thoughts.
What the inside of a disorganized schizophrenic's mind would look like
Residual Schizophrenia
Residual schizophrenics are for lack of a better term, not full blown schizophrenics. They have episodes maybe once every few years, but for the most part, live relatively normal, unaffected lives. They seem to show no positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, etc.)
Schizophrenia Causes Confussion
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia:
Undifferentiated schizophrenics exhibit symptoms shown in all the other types of schizophrenia, but do not exhibit enough symptoms to be classified in any of the other categories.
Every time someone mentions God, they refer to Him as male. Even I am guilty of this. In fact, I have only ever thought of God as a He. That is how we are taught to refer to God. This is why when I was reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult, I was so shocked to hear the main character, a little girl named Faith, referring to God as She.
Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
In Keeping Faith, a little girl named Faith is experiencing the trauma of her parents' divorce. She starts to speak to her mother about a woman visiting her and calling herself Faith's guard. Faith's mother thinks that she has created an invisible friend until Faith begins to recite parts of the bible - a book she has never read. Then she mysteriously has holes appear in her hands and feet - mimicking those that would have been made on Jesus when he was crucified. When Faith told her mother that she was speaking to God, Faith's mother was shocked to hear Faith call God, She and describe God as a woman.
The Traditional View of God
In this novel, when the world finds out how Faith is describing God, there is backlash from priests and people alike as they proclaim that God cannot be female. We all know that there are people in our society that would be extremely upset if someone said God is female. Well, those people are wrong.
An Artist's Depiction of a Female God
In Revelation 22:13, God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." So, what does God mean by saying He is the Alpha and the Omega? This means that God is neither male nor female. He is both. Which makes sense seeing as how the bible states that we are all made in God's image.
Some View God as a Ball of Light
In lieu of this, I see nothing wrong with viewing God as male or female. In fact, it would probably be easier for little children to view God as being their gender. I know I like to think of God as female over male. The female side of God is what I picture to be the nurturing one that listens to our prayers and woes while the male God is the God I think of who takes revenge on others and serves punishments.
Alpha and Omega
What do you guys think about the many genders of God?
Anyone who has grown up in the Christian religion as I have has always been told that Eve was the first woman. We are all familiar with Genesis and the story of how God made woman from Adam's rib. Our bible, the Christian bible, says that Eve was the woman that God made from Adam's rib and thus she was the first woman. Any biblical scholar; however, will tell you that Eve was not the first woman.
Antonio Molinari's Version of Adam and Eve
Long ago, when the bible was translated from ancient Hebrew to Latin, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church chose to have certain parts of the bible not included in what would become the modern bible. There are several books missing from the bible, certain things were mistranslated, and, in the case of the first woman, the story was completely altered to leave out a key figure. The traditional Hebrew texts as well as the current Jewish bible still have the original story.
The Vatican
In the beginning, after creating Adam, God created a woman named Lilith. This was before the creation of Eve. Lilith was supposed to be Adam's companion, but the two did not get along and fought all the time. Eventually, Lilith left Adam and God, having seen how Lilith and Adam did not get along, decided that this time around, he would make a woman from Adam. So he took one of Adam's ribs and created Eve.
The Hebrew Text ( Jewish Bible)
We all know the story from there, but what most of us do not know is what happened to Lilith. Though some of us who watch the HBO series True Blood will have an idea. After leaving Adam, the Hebrew texts say that Lilith became the world's first succubus - the precursor to the vampire. Lilith was a succubus who stole children's souls, specifically children's souls.
An Artist's Depiction of Lilith
Now Lilith's story isn't the only one in the bible that the Roman Catholic Church changed. In the ancient texts, Moses' walking cane did not become a snake when he threw it on the ground in front of Pharaoh - it became a Nile crocodile. The text is specific about it being a Nile crocodile and none other.
A Depiction of the Christian Bible's Tale of Moses and the Pharaoh
On top of these minor mistakes in the modern bible, there are also several books that the Roman Catholic Church excluded a known total of 13 books.
Unless you have been living under a rock your entire life, you have heard of Schizophrenia. Books mention it, television shows attempt to glorify it, and people who have never had any real life experience with it, perceive it to be something that it is not. This is mainly the fault of the mass media that portrays Schizophrenia by its rare, extreme cases instead of what it truly is in most instances. It's time that the world gets a real look at this most dreaded of psychological disorders.
A Normal Complaint of Schizophrenics
It is said that if depression is the common cold of psychological disorders, then chronic schizophrenia is the cancer. Depression, like the common cold, is treatable and does not last for life - unless you have Bipolar Disorder which is a completely different topic. Chronic schizophrenia; however, is very much like cancer in that it is a lifetime disorder and, although there are medicines to help treat it, it cannot be cured.
Every 1 in 100 people develop schizophrenia at some point in their lives. Although schizophrenia can strike at any time and without warning, it typically affects those 17-30. It isn't that you magically stop being schizophrenic after age 30 or cannot develop it after age 30, it is that this is the typical age group for the first onset of symptoms. Men normally have more severe symptoms than women.
The Affected Portions of the Brain
There is no known cause of schizophrenia and it is believed that there may be several factors. The most accepted theory is that schizophrenia is caused by the release of too much dopamine in the brain. There is a lot of evidence to support this theory. Those who have schizophrenia show increased dopamine levels as opposed to those without the disease and the medicine used to treat schizophrenia which blocks the dopamine receptors seem to have the best outcomes.
A Schizophrenic Brain vs. A Healthy Brain
Schizophrenia is a genetic psychological disorder. This means that it is known to run in a family. Evidence for this comes in the fact that several members of a family are known to have schizophrenia. For example, if your mother has schizophrenia, than you have a 17% chance of developing the disorder.
The Genetic Link of Schizophrenia
While there is strong evidence that points to schizophrenia being genetic, that is only half the story. It is also environmental. Psychologists know that schizophrenia is environmental because of studies conducted on monozygotic twins. In these studies, although one twin had schizophrenia, the other did not necessarily have the disorder. If schizophrenia were purely genetic, both twins would have the disorder.
Some of the environmental factors that are believed to cause schizophrenia are:
Family Stress
Poor Social Interactions
Traumatic Experiences
Diseases at an early age
Although most people at some point in their lives will experience one if not more of these factors, it does not mean that they will develop schizophrenia. Keep in mind that schizophrenia only affects about 1% of the population.
There are 5 main symptoms of schizophrenia and I am going to discuss each separately. The first big symptom schizophrenics exhibit are delusions.
Delusions
Delusions are false, often bizarre, beliefs. Schizophrenics suffering from delusions believe that they are completely real and do not understand that whatever they think is false. While sometimes these delusions are paranoid in nature as the media leads us to believe all schizophrenics are, it is not always the case. Paranoid delusions are ones in which a schizophrenic may believe that there is someone spying on them - listening to their conversations, following them, etc. Sometimes, schizophrenics do have genuine paranoia in their delusions, but not always. Sometimes the delusions can be as simple as the schizophrenic believing they are a movie star so to speak and thus everyone should know them.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations are when a schizophrenic perceives occurrences in their environment that are not real. There are four areas in which a schizophrenic may experience hallucinations. This four may occur all at once or only one at any given time. The first is auditory. Some schizophrenics believe that they hear voices telling them to do things. The second, visual, is when schizophrenics see lights, people, etc. The third, olfactory, is smelling things that are not there while the fourth, tactile, is the feeling of things that are not there such as being poked.
An Example of Auditory Hallucinations
Disorganized Thinking or Speech
Schizophrenics have different speech patterns than those not affected. Schizophrenics have unusuhere al thoughts, do not speak much, some schizophrenics have disjointed speech patterns, and change topics midway through what they are saying.
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms occur when there is an absence of all normal behavior. Negative symptoms are social withdrawal, the absence of emotion and expressions, reduced energy, motivation, and activity.
Catatonia
Catatonia is a negative symptom in which a schizophrenic is unmoving - generally staying in a certain position for a set amount of time.
All of these symptoms do not always occur at the same time and not every schizophrenic exhibits every symptom.
There are medicines that do treat schizophrenia. Many of these medicines do extremely well in reducing the symptoms of those with schizophrenia and help them live normal lives. The biggest problem that occurs with schizophrenics is that sometimes they believe they are doing well enough that they no longer need the medicine so they stop taking it. The second problem is getting a schizophrenic to start taking their medicine if they have paranoia.
Schizophrenic are more likely to live normal, full lives if they are in a loving environment and have support from their friends and family.
For centuries, nations have been captivated by royal scandals. These scandals range in topic from murder at the darkest end of the spectrum and to scandals regarding love on the other end. Sometimes the two mix. Some of the stories are tragically romantic. No one nation has had more intriguing scandals than England. Let's take a look at them, shall we?
Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville:
Edward IV was king of England from 1461-1470 and again from 1471 until his death in 1483. Edward was the first Yorkist king to rule England. His reign came during one of England's most famous civil wars, the Wars of the Roses.
Edward IV
Interesting Fact - The Wars of the Roses was so called because each house's symbol was a rose. The Lancasters were represented by a red rose while the Yorks were represented by a white rose. When the Wars of the Roses finally ended due to Henry Tudor, a Lancaster and later Henry VII, defeating Richard III, a Yorkist, the red and white roses were combined to create what has been dubbed the Tudor rose. This only occurred after Henry VII married Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, effectively uniting the two families and ending the civil war.
The Tudor Rose
Edward IV was well liked by his subjects and the members of his court until he announced that he intended to marry Elizabeth Woodville - a commoner. Back then, and even today, it was unheard of for a monarch to marry a commoner. Of course Edward's court was upset because he hadn't married one of the nobility's daughters. I think it's inspiring that he married for love.
Elizabeth Woodville
Edward and Elizabeth's sons, Prince Richard and Edward V, would later go missing after their father's death. In what has been called one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time, the so called "Lost Princes" disappeared while awaiting Edward V's coronation in the Tower of London. Speculation would place their deaths in the hands of their uncle who was crowned, Richard III, upon their disappearance.
Edward and Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth of York, meanwhile, would later marry Henry VII of the House of Tudor and end the Wars of the Roses with her marriage. Her son is the infamous King Henry VIII. Philippa Gregory, the famed English historical fiction writer, wrote a novel titled The White Queen that is about Elizabeth Woodville and her rise to power. On August 10, Starz plans to premiere a new show entitled, The White Queen, which will be based off the novel.
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: In the 16th century, Henry VIII fell in love with his wife, Catherine of Aragon's, lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. Anne was the niece of one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Howard. Henry tried turning Anne into his mistress, but she would not allow that to happen. Unlike the previous women Henry had had relationships with, Anne refused to be a mistress - she demanded to be Henry's queen.
Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
The only problem with Anne's demand was that Henry was already married to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V's, aunt. When Henry petitioned the Pope to have his marriage to Catherine annulled on the grounds that she had previously been married to Henry's brother, Prince Arthur, the Holy Roman Emperor captured the Vatican and held the Pope prisoner until he refused Henry's request.
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
An angry Henry split with the Roman Catholic Church, proclaiming England Protestant and establishing the Church of England. It has long been assumed that Anne was instrumental and bringing Henry to this decision as she had studied the Protestant faith while she was serving Henry's sister, Princess Mary, in France.
Once the Church of England was established, Henry called upon his Archbishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage to Catherine. This was promptly done and Henry married Anne in May of 1533. In September of 1533, Anne had a baby girl, Princess Elizabeth. Henry, while in love with Anne, was determined to have a son. After several miscarriages and a stillbirth, Henry put Anne on trial for adultery. Most historians agree today that all crimes attributed to Anne were false and only placed against her in order for Henry to divorce her without looking like a fool for having broken with the Catholic Church. Anne was sentenced to death for her crimes.
There is a tale of a prophecy that a 16th century English queen would be burned at the stake for her crimes and according to one of Anne's ladies, the Queen was terrified that the prophecy foretold of her fate. Henry; however, had different plans. He declared that Anne would be executed by beheading. In a later letter, Henry would write to Anne that he was sending a French swordsman for her execution as he had heard they were more skilled and less painful than axemen. He proclaimed he was doing it because, "You see, my dear, I still love you." Although Henry was eager to have a son, it would be his daughter with Anne, Elizabeth I, who would become one of England's most beloved and accomplished queens.
Henry and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I and Sir Robert Dudley:
Henry VIII's daughter with Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, would later have her own love scandal once she was queen. Elizabeth had grown up with Sir Robert Dudley, the son of a traitor. When she became queen, she kept Robert close by her side and named him her Horsemaster. Later, she would give him the title of Earl of Leicester. She would also bestow upon him several properties as a way for him to gain money.
Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley
Elizabeth's court was jealous of how close she was with Robert Dudley and blamed him as the reason the queen refused to marry. Elizabeth allowed Robert to call her by her childhood nickname, Bess, and allowed his advice on matters of state. In fact, many members of Elizabeth's court called Robert Dudley king in all but name.
There is speculation that Elizabeth would have married Robert had he not already rushed into marriage with Amy Robsart at a young age. There are reports of Elizabeth telling Robert that had he not been so hasty, he could have had her. When Amy was found dead two years into Elizabeth's reign, the people believed that Robert Dudley had arranged for Amy to be murdered in order to marry the queen. If the two really were planning on getting married, the outrage from the people put an ends to this hope.
The Famous Portrait of Amy Robsart's Death
Robert stayed by Elizabeth's side his whole life. From historical accounts, there is no doubt that the two were best friends and possibly lovers. Many conspiracy theorists claim that Elizabeth had Robert's child. That will be another post later. Personally, Elizabeth and Robert's story is my favorite. It's truly romantic.
Some of the best books I have read about Elizabeth and Robert's romance are:
The Secret Letters of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell
The Queen's Bastard by Robin Maxwell
The Virgin Queen's Daughter by Ella March Chase
The Virgin Queen's Lover by Philippa Gregory
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson:
In 1936, Queen Elizabeth II's uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the British throne because he wanted to marry, Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward began his relationship with Wallis several years before he became king and many times of those years, Edward's father, King George V, told him that he could not be with Wallis.
Edward and Wallis
When Edward became king, he kept Wallis at his side. The whole country was beside itself. Not only was Wallis an American with no noble blood, but she had been divorced twice before. Edward was warned by several of his council members that if he were to attempt to marry Wallis, he would have to abdicate the throne.
Edward and Wallis on their wedding day
Following his heart, on December 11, 1936, Edward abdicated the British throne to marry his love. The two later married in France and Edward was giving the title, Duke of Windsor, by his brother, King George VI. The two never met face to face after Edward abdicated and George refused to go to Edward's wedding. In fact, none of the members of the royal family attended the wedding. Edward's abdication was a sore spot with the royal family for years.
It wasn't until 1972 when Edward was dying of lung cancer that his niece, Queen Elizabeth II, visited him. Although frail and in the hospital, Edward still insisted on standing and bowing to his niece when she entered as she was his queen. When Edward died later that year, Elizabeth stood beside his widow in comfort in what was the first time the royal family had been shown to accept Wallis.
Edward and Wallis' story has long been considered a modern love story.
So, the royal baby finally has a name! On Tuesday, July 24, Kensington Palace released a press statement naming the new prince, George Alexander Louis. It only took Will and Kate two days to name their baby boy - less time than it has taken previous royals! It took Will's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, exactly one month to name Will's father, Prince Charles. It took Prince Charles and Princess Diana one week to name Prince William.
The little prince has quite a bit of history behind his first name, George. Six of England's most recent kings have been named, George. In fact, George has been the most popular name for English kings in the past 300 years. Queen Elizabeth II's father, King George VI, was the last to reign with that given name.
What do you guys think about the new prince's name? Love it or hate it?
Today the world got its first glimpse of the future king of England, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge's new baby boy.
Prince William and Kate leaving with the new prince
William told the press that he's glad his son looks like his mother, the Duchess. Aw! He also made the promise that he will remind the little boy later about how he was late getting here. Although no due date was ever released, it is speculated that Kate was due to give birth July 11.
Earlier, before the young prince made his way home with his parents, he was visited by both sets of grandparents. Kate's parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, visited and answered questions from the press. Stating that the new parents were happy and their grandson was adorable.
Carole and Michael Middleton
Hours later, Will's dad, Prince Charles, and his stepmother, Camilla, visited. Prince Charles was all pride as he left the hospital.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall
William says that they are still working on a name for the new prince, but hopes they will figure it out soon. I'll keep all of you posted on the latest news.
How many of you watched Syfy's latest movie, Sharknado? I actually watched this movie because I am a junkie for any movie with sharks and gore.
Sharknado is about a freak hurricane that hits Los Angeles and floods the area. During this freak hurricane, tornadoes sprout up over the water and somehow sharks are whisked out of the ocean by the tornadoes and deposited in the flooding city where they rain havoc. As the movie progresses, they discover that by bombing the tornadoes, it will destroy them.
Scenes from Sharknado
If the movie plot sounds absurd, that's because it is. First of all, a bomb would never magically destroy a tornado. Secondly, once a shark has landed on dry land, it isn't going to automatically search for a person and start chewing. At this point, survival instincts would have kicked in and it would be looking for water in order to survive.
Sharknado became one of Syfy's highest ever rated movies in terms of viewers due to its role in social media. Simply put, it became a Twitter sensation. Celebrities of all calibers tweeted their thoughts of Sharknado, granted most of them were jabs at the movie. Even though they were making fun of the movie, it still prompted several people to watch the movie due to their favorite celebrities tweeting about it.
It's official - England has a new prince! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had their baby boy today at 4:24 P.M. GMT. The little prince was 8 pounds and 6 ounces - one big baby! It is unknown what the little boy's name is and it is believed that it will take anywhere from one week to a month for the public to learn the baby's name. Prince William was present for the baby's birth. This new baby is now third in line to the British throne, displacing his uncle, Prince Harry. I will post again later with news of the new baby's name.
I'm sure all of you either remember or have studied the nuclear disaster that occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant on April 26, 1986 in Ukraine. For those of you who didn't pay attention in history or have been leaving under a rock, Chernobyl was the name of the power plant in the Ukraine, then part of the USSR. On April 26, 1986, reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant overheated and exploded. This resulted in the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
After the resulting explosion, the USSR attempted to keep the disaster secret until two days later when neighboring European countries began picking up on the increased radiation in the air. At this point, the USSR admitted that there had been a disaster. Two workers at the Chernobyl plant were killed the night of the explosion and 28 more died within weeks from the radiation poisoning. One eyewitness later described the explosion as, "A beautiful blue, green flame."
Chernobyl Reactor Number 4
Right after the disaster, officials evacuated the town of Pripyat which is where most of the workers and their families lived. Overnight, Pripyat became a ghost town. The locals were told that they would return to their homes in three days. It's been almost 30 years and they still have not returned. They weren't allowed to take their personal items with them. It is not known how many died due to radiation poisoning.
The Infamous Ferris Wheel at Pripyat
The most iconic image from Pripyat is the abandoned Ferris Wheel. At the time of the Chernobyl Disaster, Pripyat was preparing to have a carnival in celebration of May Day - a celebration that never happened.
The Abandoned City of Pripyat
Recently, the Ukraine began allowing tours to Pripyat. You must ask the Ukrainian government for permission and they send a tour guide to the town with you. I think that it would be cool to visit this town. It would be a little scary to be in a town that is completely abandoned, but it would be a once in a lifetime experience to witness the town.
An Abandoned Classroom
A lot of people say they wouldn't go because of the radiation levels. Pripyat has not returned to the pre-Chernobyl radiation levels and it is estimated that it will not for thousands of years; however, the tour guides take precaution in making sure that you do not go near areas with high densities of radiation and that you are only in Pripyat for a few hours. You still cannot enter Chernobyl due to the unsafe levels of radiation.
Has anyone seen Piranha, released in theaters as Piranha 3D? I watched it for the first time tonight when I saw that it was on Spike. I know, I'm a little behind.
The Piranha From the Movie
I thought that the movie felt a lot like typical SyFy movies in that it had an unrealistic plot (I mean seriously? How would prehistoric piranhas survive only to randomly show up in a lake and go on a killing spree?), poor script writing, and plenty of blood and gore in an attempt to distract from the first two issues.
For anyone who hasn't watched Piranha, it is about a lake community, Lake Victoria, Arizona, where an earthquake occurs and releases prehistoric Piranhas into the lake. Like any typical movie about a danger in the lake, ocean, etc., the local sheriff attempts to close the lake, but her efforts are thwarted by college students crowding the lake for spring break. Needless to say, a lot of people die because of the townspeople refusal to close the lake.
The piranhas in this movie are way bigger than a piranha today, but I guess that is why they are 'prehistoric' in this movie. At the end of the movie, a local pet store owner, Mr. Goodman, informs the sheriff, who has just rescued her children from the piranhas, that the piranhas attacking the people on the lake are only babies. At this point, the mother piranha attacks one of the divers who is on the boat with the sheriff. That is where the movie ends.
A Piranha From the Amazon
There wasn't much of a plot to this movie. It seemed all the writers and director were concerned with was how many deaths could occur in the film, how much blood and gore they could show, and if they could set the movie up for a sequel. Which they did and was released in 2012 as Piranhas 3DD.
This movie got me to thinking about our sudden obsession with making a movie worthy only of the SyFy movie channel mainstream. The other movie like this that comes to mind is Shark Night 3D.
Shark Night is a movie a lot like Piranha. It is about a group of teens who head to a lake and are attacked by sharks who have somehow been placed in the lake. Later in the movie, we find out that one of the girls' ex boyfriends put in the lake because he was inspired by Discovery Channel's Shark Week to film people being eaten by sharks. Once again, this film has poor writing and mainly only cares about blood and gore. There isn't much of a plot other than: sharks in a lake kill people.
So, what do you guys think about making these types of movies mainstream?
Like every little girl a few years ago, I was a HUGE Hannah Montana fan. I knew all the songs by heart and never missed an episode. Hannah was my role model! She was just a typical girl who got bullied at school and who a lot of people thought would never do anything worth noting, but when she put on that blonde wig, she became an international pop sensation. It was the perfect story.
Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana
Having fallen in love with Hannah Montana back then, I have always kept up with Miley Cyrus, the actress who portrayed Hannah on Disney. The Miley of my childhood and the Miley of today are two completely different people.
Miley During Her Hannah Montana Days
Looking back on Hannah Montana, Miley was an okay actress. She's still an okay actress, but there's nothing spectacular there which is probably why she still hasn't gained as much fame as say Britney Spears or fellow Disney channel stars, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.
Miley is also an okay singer. Nothing completely amazing and a lot of her songs have the same beat/feel to them.
Despite all of this, I have always remained a Miley fan...a Smiler. But Miley's latest behavior has gotten me to like her less. She's been doing songs with will.i.am and Snoop Lion. She's constantly tweeting provocative pictures and talking about how dope she is or how big her butt is. (Is it just me or does she have a typical, FLAT white girl butt?)
Okay. I am a huge rap fan. People like Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Chanel West Coast are my idols. So I'm not upset with Miley for trying to be urban, but I am upset with the way she's doing it. It's like she's acting this way for attention and it is coming off as ridiculous and absurdly fake. It's okay to be into that music and try to imitate it, but Miley is trying to be the stereotypical black girl in this case and it is NOT right. I mean, Chanel West Coast is a white female rapper but does she act like Miley is? No. She is probably one of the most real people I know. Even Nicki Minaj is more real than Miley at this point.
Nicki vs. Miley as Nicki has vowed to go natural
Chanel West Coast
Then there's the whole haircut thing. Miley used to have long, brown hair and I thought she was gorgeous. Then she had it cut shoulder-length and dyed blonde. She still looked pretty. But then she chopped her hair off - even using a razor on her head - and went platinum. I never thought the length of a person's hair would affect their looks so much. Miley though, doesn't look pretty at all with her new haircut.
Miley's New Hairstyle
Miley's latest music video for her single "We Can't Stop" was so over the top that it actually made me laugh. The music video was the worst thing I have ever seen and completely pointless. All it showed was Miley shaking her butt (twerking), making out with a doll, and dancing around in barely there clothes. It was a disgrace to every artist out there. Seriously?
Have any of you watched Property Brothers on HGTV? The show is about twin brothers, Drew and Jonathon Scott, who help couples find homes and renovate them into their dream home.
Jonathon (L) and Drew (R) Scott of Property Brothers
Drew is a real estate agent who takes clients to find homes for sale in neighborhoods that they wish to live in for the price that the clients are willing to pay. The homes that they come up with normally are fixer-ups which is where Drew's twin brother, Jonathon, comes into play.
Jonathon is a contractor. His job is to help the clients design and turn their home into everything they want it to be once they make the purchase. Normally, Jonathon is given a few weeks deadline to finish everything by the clients and he gets to play with whatever money the clients have left over after purchasing their home.
I love how at the beginning of the show, the home that is normally purchased is an old, rundown place that by the end, Jonathon has turned into a beautiful, livable space. Some of the homes on the show are really spectacular.
A home renovated by Jonathon Scott
Jonathon and Drew are also kind of cute. Drew is the cutest by far although I tend to like suits and, welp, Jonathon doesn't wear suits and has a full on man beard. Blah!
Bonjour everyone! I'm Callie and I'm new to this whole blogging thing. I honestly never thought I would start blogging. I've wanted to for like forever now, but I'm secretly afraid of writing in public. Oh well. No time like the present to kick a fear to curb, right?
So...this blog obviously has no clear direction and that's because I talk about EVERYTHING. My mind wanders all over the place and because of that - you know this blog is going to!
Some of my favorite things in this world are television, history, medicine, animals, travel, and friends/family. I like reading depending on what it is. I'm a bit of a nerd. I have as much fun spending a night playing board games with friends as I do going to parties or movies. You should always exercise your mind!
I want to introduce other cultures and ways of life to people. Knowledge is power everyone! The more we know about other people and their ways of life, the less misunderstandings we will get into. While I'm at it, I'll talk about some of the cool places I'd like to visit ;)
I'm an open person and I love love meeting new people. You could call me a social butterfly. :)
I'll be posting some about religions on here. If I offend anyone, I don't intend to. I am a Christian and I belong to the Roman Catholic Church; however, I see no harm in discussing other religions, even those that do not worship the same deity as me. I think we should strive to understand even those who do not worship as we do.
I have added a few helpful tools to my blog. You can translate to your own language if you aren't comfy with English, search this blog or the web, find blog posts by labels, and find a list of blogs/websites that I enjoy reading. There is also a link to my twitter. Feel free to hit me up with any questions/comments :)
