The Lunar Chronicles Make an Impression that's Over The Moon

The Lunar Chronicles are a series of sci-fi books depicting a Utopian futuristic society in which there is a little fairytale/princess twist. Cinder (the stunningly determined young cyborg who stars in the first and following books) lives in the Easter Commonwealth, which readers can assume is America in the future. It is based upon Asian traditions and culture, with an emperor and prince Kai as rulers. This society is complete with plenty of androids, flying ships, cyborgs, pods and all kinds of other technological advances. The world runs on their technology, but cannot defeat the highly infectious plague known at letumosis, that has killed millions and has infected the emperor. High above earth, the moon has been colonized and is called Luna, and under evil Queen Levana's rule. The Lunar people have special powers to manipulate and mind control others, by controlling others' bioelectricity. Levana is determined to take control of Earth and destroy it, and Cinder is the only one who can stop her. What will happen? Read the mind-blowing, page turning series, The Lunar Chronicles to find out. A movie is possibly in the works, so read it now before it comes out.
I loved the series, the characters are memorable and strong, and the plot is surprising and increasingly addictive. This series is guaranteed to be the next fan craze, the next Hunger Games or Divergent, and my new favorite. Scarlet (the little red head below) is by far my favorite character, with Wolf (yes a wolf hybrid) beside her. I know the plot seems cheesy and cliché at first, but it undeniably amazing. You will learn to hate some of the antagonists as must as you hated Ms. Umbridge in Harry Potter (yes THAT MUCH) and you will love the protagonists, their strong nature, fighting perseverance, comedy, unique personalities, and adorable awkwardness. Although the story can be a bit confusing with 6, going on 8 protagonists, I find it's great development and complex nature intriguing and utterly fantastic.



Cinder: Cinderella
Cinder is a cyborg mechanic living in the Eastern Commonwealth under her stepmother's rule with her two sisters. Prince Kai asks her to fix an android and the story kicks off from there. Cinder is volunteered by her evil guardian for letumosis testing, and she discovers a dangerous secret about herself and why she is such a special asset to Earth itself. Cinder is the overall leading character faced with the biggest decisions, and losses. She is determined, head-strong, indecisive, as well as a leader, though she doesn't know it yet.
Scarlet: Lovely little Red Riding Hood
My favorite book. She is trying to find her grandmother, who mysteriously disappeared 2 weeks ago, along the way she meets Wolf, a strange man who seems to know an awful lot about her grandmother. Scarlet is small, determined, notably feisty, and loyal.
Cress: Rapunzel
In this book, Cress is a shell (A Lunar without powers) trapped in a satelllite by Queen Levana. She is an experienced hacker and Cinder and the gang try to rescue her. Somewhere along the way, Cinder managed to recruit a criminal (though quite the teddy bear) to drive their ship and help the team. Kai is now determined to marry Queen Levana to make an alliance, and Cinder is determined to stop this. Cress is a little weird, childish, enthralling, and determined in the end.
Winter: Snow White
You meet Winter at the end of book three, but the book will not come out until 2015. Winter is the stepdaughter of Queen Levana, and quite the crazypants from what I can tell.
READ THE BOOKS. I'm telling you, they're great!

Making The Most Memorable Moment

It's the night of your life, so make it great. Prom is something special and one of the most memorable moments of your high school experience. This experience for you, not for your parents, not for the teachers, for YOU. If you don't have a date, so what? Going with friends is just as fun. The average cost of prom in the South Atlantic is $1,203. This seems very high and ranges close to this all over the nation. So here are some tips to make it great at a reasonably low cost.
1) The Dress
        Yes, get the best, get the one you want, and get the one you LOVE. But don't forget that price is a factor, you can find your amazing dress at a low cost. Often mall stores like Kohl's and Belk's have dresses at a low price and typically local stores known for weddings or tailoring also sell prom dresses on the side at a low cost. Some around Simpsonville and Greenville, SC are Boutique of Dreams and Carolina Bride and Groom, as well as numerous others. The typical price is $500 to $600 for a prom dress and that's crazy! The recommended stores average price is $300 or lower. Designer dresses are cliché, you should be able to choose your own style based on what you like, not what's popular or "the trend". You can also rent prom dresses or shop online as well as borrow a friends that you really love. But don't lower your standards for a dress that you don't really love.
Learn more about saving money on dresses at http://www.brashiermiddlecollegenews.org/on-your-mind/finding-a-reasonably-priced-prom-dress/
2) The Hair/ Makeup
      The hair and makeup are an all day event. The obvious way to lower costs are to do it yourself, or have someone with more experience help you. You can find makeup and prom hair tutorials all over youtube and Pinterest, just make sure it's a reliable tutorial before you begin. If you must have it done professionally, there are many places with reasonable prices, but take the time to look around in various areas. You can even go to the mall, go to their makeup section, buy a small product for like $15, and they will do your makeup for free.
3) The Corsage/ Boutonniere
       The flowers are a girl's best friend and typically the guy's worst nightmare. Flowers often are made to match the dress, but to lower costs do a color that matches everything, like white. White is usually at a lower cost because it is at a lower demand, and it causes less stress because it matches everything! It will also please the guy because he won't end up wearing pink or purple. White is dressy and classic, as well as neutral. Also look for stores that aren't as well known. Often family organizes flower stores do the best job for the lowest prices, with a great quality product. You can even have a little fun and make your own corsage or boutonniere! Then it is perfectly suited to you and your taste and you have had the personal pride of making it. And if the prom is a masquerade, get creative and make your own mask!
4) The Tux
      The guys can rent a tux as well as borrow one from someone. Some guys actually already own tuxes for a fine arts program that they are involved that, and they can just use that! There are some stores that will provide a discount for couples if they both get the dress/tux from the same place.
5) The Dinner
     Don't go too fancy, a place that is nice but not too expensive will work just fine. Cheddar's or Olive Garden are a popular favorite and have reasonable prices and good food. Get reservations though, because often prom is on the same night for many different schools. Carpool to prom and the restaurant to save on gas, and take your own pictures to save money as well.

These are some ways to save on prom and still have a great time! Get creative, take your time, and set your own trends, and you will surely have a night to remember.

Book Vs. The Movie: The Benefits and Bads of Both

Throughout all time (well at least since movies have been in the making) there has been the debate of which is better; books or movies? Should books even be made into movies if they are just a disappointment? Movies often pale in comparison to the book, simply because of the fact that books can hold more information, and movies can't fit in everything. Books can fully develop the character, show you their inner thoughts and feelings, while movies take up the challenge of portraying all of this on screen. And sometimes they fail. Miserably.
Personally, I think books are better. They are more developed, and better for you. Reading makes the mind go on an adventure, that everyone experiences differently. You also get better reading skills and vocabulary from reading. Although there is something magical about seeing a movie, seeing events portrayed in front of your eyes instead of your imagination, there is not as much development and benefits. Movies do make you feel like you are experiencing the events, but that's all you get from it-entertainment. The best plots come from books, that's why they keep making books into movies. Movie plots are all the same now; independent girl who is lonely gets the guy, spy saves the day, child gets a better relationship with their parents, scary ghost murders a town. Books create unique plots with detail. The Harry Potter movies for example, was pretty well created and much like the books. The movies were so good because so many details and iconic items from the books were used. The book created a world that was spectacular and different, and to see that through a movie was amazing. Movies can't create that as well, in such detail, with such finesse.
On a random tangent, people today think they don't have time for reading. They'd rather rot their brains by staring at a screen on a phone all day. People choose entertainment over intelligence, but which is really more beneficial? Reading involves imagination, intelligence and concentration. It involves many aspects of the brain, while movies are simply watching and interpreting. Reading is calming and fascinating, and even in intense part your brain is interested but not frightened. In movies, you are more involved, but not so much calm. Movies can sometimes make a point to frighten you, disturb you in a way that books can't. Movies can leave your mind with nightmares and fears, while books have calming and therapeutic effects, while providing interesting action. Books can help people with anxiety or ADD, providing something to focus their attention on and stay calm. Books also allow you to read others thoughts and feelings better, and interact with others more positively.  Although the process of reading in definition, separates you from others and is stereotyped as an "antisocial activity", in the end it has social benefits of understanding others better.Movies provide fun dates and lots to talk about, and is clearly social as well. Reading helps people in their old age, due to the way it stimulates the brain. Not only this, but reading often helps with memory loss, and the elderly who read throughout their lives showed fewer occurrences of Alzheimer's disease. Reading also helps sleep, not because it's boring but because it calms the mind.
Anyways, both books and movies have their positives and negatives but are thoroughly entertaining. However, if you are going to watch a movie, read the book first. You will understand the movie and characters better, and be able to feel truly in the movie and action when you know all that is going on. Go into the movie expecting that some scenes will be left out or not how you imagined them. Some characters are going to be different and more difficult than imagined. But overall, it is a privilege to be able to watch a movies portrayal of a book on screen, as long as it's done right.
Recently I saw the movie Divergent in theaters (based off the book Divergent) and I was thrilled and enthralled to see it. I was not disappointed. The book was fantastic and I loved it, and although the movie was slightly different, it was great to see it portrayed on screen. A great cast, great director, and a love of the book can make or break the movies portrayal of the book.

The Music Business

If you're like me, you can't stand the quiet. That suffocating silence I just can't handle. Everything I'm doing, anytime, I want to be surrounded by music. When I unload the dishes, do my homework, or drive around, my radio is always on. Recently I have been using several radio and music apps to fill the silence. I always prefer free apps, because music should be free, you shouldn't have to pay for it, or pay for those stupid commercials to go away.
Anyways, the apps I use for music are Songza, I Heart Radio, Pandora, Spotify , and Beats. My favorites are Pandora and Spotify because they use the most variety and personalization, but Songza is okay.

Songza is an app you probably haven't heard of, its a smaller app company, but offers music based on time of the day and mood. You can choose what you want to listen to, and then click the thumbs up or thumbs down and the station will adjust to your preferences. When I'm studying, I will listen to rain sounds, or classical music. But when I'm working out I listen to loud and inspiring tunes. Songza plays a lot of well known songs, they stick to the most popular songs, that everyone has heard. I like it because you can personalize it to what you want, pick your mood or activity, and they play more well-known songs that I can recognize and sing along to. I also like that there are no commercials, but simply ads along the screen. However, songs repeat too often and you never heard any less well-known songs.

I Heart Radio everyone has heard of. If you listen to the radio, the announcers like to mention it EVERY. FIVE. SECONDS. So of course, every time I listen to the radio, I hear, "Download the I Heart radio app! Download it! Download it, it's great!" over....and over....and over. So I decided to download it. However, I am not impressed what so ever. It's difficult to use, and to this day I still don't really know how to use it. You have a choice of like 5 activities, but that's about it, and you can only listen to some radio stations (which you could get just by listening to the radio) and some artists that you like. However, I couldn't even find radio stations like B93.7 on the app, and only a few artists. It is more radio based, and complicated. You can listen to radio stations from other areas, like Los Angeles, but there's little personalization. However, I do like that you can control if the songs are mixed, familiar, or unfamiliar, and can view lyrics and artist bios.
Everyone knows Pandora, teachers will play it in their classrooms and kids love it. It is by far one of the most successful music apps. In 2011, Pandora made $138 million and had 150 million users in 2012. Pandora was launched in 2005, and was rated a B- by Entertainment Weekly in 2013 and they said,  "Free streaming radio, $36 a year to go ad-free. Launched in 2005, Pandora is available on just about every platform. There's no on-demand, though, and stations tend to draw from a relatively small pool of albums."

I like Pandora, but it replays songs over and over again and there is no selection for your mood. There is the thumbs up, thumbs down option, but it still plays similar songs. It is easiest to use, and gives the most information about the artist, song, and composition than any other music app. You can look at the lyrics as well as the artists information, but there is not a lot of personalization. They have a wide selection of genres, but not enough songs to fill every genre. Oh yes, and there are PLENTY of ads to keep you entertained.

Spotify is probably my favorite of all of them. With Spotify you can choose your mood or genre, and choose a radio type from that that another music enthusiast has created. For example, in the mornings I often listen to "Wake Up!" which features songs that get me up and moving. But at night I listen to quiet music, under "Chill" and that puts me to sleep. I really enjoy how you can star and like songs, and then play the playlist of your liked songs. The app is also personalized, however it has few familiar songs. Most songs are unfamiliar and unheard of, but I kinda like that because you don't get soooo many repeating songs, but can instead learn to love and enjoy new and less well-known music and styles. It is semi-easy to use, but it has its difficulties. You can start your own radio easily based on the artist or song that you like and it will play songs like that in seconds. I usually browse around and listen to multiple stations and listen to genres I normally wouldn't listen to, I can expand my knowledge and experience of music. But if I want to go back and listen to my favorites, I simply go to my page, listen to my favorites, or listen to stations that I have created, it's fairly simple. There are a few ads, but not an overwhelming amount.

Beats is the app I am least familiar with, yet it seems to be the most quickly rising music app. It was released only at the beginning of 2014, but is quickly becoming more and more popular. AT&T now offers a music plan with your phone, and music has never before really been incorporated with the phone business. It's revolutionary really, people love music, people love their phones, put it together at a seemingly low price and both businesses benefit. From the commercials, I can see that these people LOVE music. They believe that music is life. Dr.Dre runs the company, and made $1.6 billion off his headphones in 2012. He knows how to sell and control and monopolize the music industries. Companies like Pandora, Spotify, etc. need to watch their backs. Beats is new and extremely personalized to YOU....at a cost. You might get the best music service but it will cost you. I only have used it a little bit, it's free for 7 days and then you can get the subscription, but I still believe that music should be free. Music is a way of life, not a business.
Classic music as we know it is changing and fast, digital music sales and music apps are soaring, while CD and music based stores are failing and calling bankruptcy. Music apps are the fastest growing app companies, and they are making a lot of money off of it. Music is changing quickly, and we don't even seem to be noticing.

Thanks Mr. Banks

I'm in a Movie Review kind of mood, so bear with me.
One of the best movies I saw throughout the course of the 2013 year didn't come out until the very end. You know what they say though, "Save the best for last"
There was such heart, such raw emotion coursing through the entire movie that I sat on the edge of my seat practically every second.
A mystery was revealed throughout the course of the movie through flashbacks of Miss Travers (Actor Emma Thompson) and her childhood. Normally one would think that this would be boring and pointless, but its quite the opposite. It's fascinating, and involves innocent childhood emotion and themes. As a child her father was an alcoholic, and the movie portrays how a child reacts to this. Children never stop loving their parents, no matter what happens. That childhood faith and forgiveness that children have in their parents is astounding. The movie also shows how your childhood will influence your future and actions. Walt Disney (Actor Tom Hanks) reveals this when he talks about his rough childhood, and how it has made him a stronger man.
The movie also gives a great insight into Disney and the magic of it. You learn about what goes on there, at least back in the 60's, and how movies were made. The movie is historically rich, with famous cars, actors, clothes, and trends from the 60's. There are so many symbolic meanings and mysteries that are revealed throughout the movie, and such heartfelt creative characters, that you can't help but fall in love with it all.
I loved the fact that the movie was based on a real life event; Walt Disney trying to get the rights from the book Mary Poppins, a book written by Miss Travers, and make it into a movie. This normally would not be difficult, but Miss Travers is quite the character. She refuses to hand over the rights to her book for 20 years. She's strict, picky, and seemingly heartless. When in fact she has such a large heart for people. She wants her movie to be real, because Mary Poppins is so important to her. Mary Poppins is family to her....literally (spoiler alert!). Miss Travers refuses o use animation and music in the remake movie of Mary Poppins. But if you have seen Mary Poppins, then you know that she allowed it to happen anyway due to that big heart of hers.
 The movie seemed real and true. There was no explosions or fight scenes, there was no romance. The movie was simply based on an inspirational event. Hollywood seemed to stick their nose out this movie, and leave the tricky cliché effects for all their other movies. And that's why I loved it so much.
It was real, it was inspirational, it was symbolic and meaningful.

The Hobbit: A Super Sequel

I was practically dragged into the second movie of The Hobbit, kicking and screaming the whole way. I sat down in the squeaky, sticky theatre seats and rocked back and forth throughout the commercials with a scowl on my face. I would rather be anywhere but sitting in that chair. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE movies. But not this one. Anything but this one.
The first movie of The Hobbit, I fell asleep practically as soon as it started. It was way too long for my goldfish attention span, and way to slow for my speedy mind. I had read the book a few years back, and it hadn't been too bad, but I now knew the whole plotline. Although the books are similar and well represented by the movies, they are B-O-R-I-N-G.
In the second movie, I was stunned. There was a huge difference between the first and second movie, and the second one was so much better. All though there were still some slow and confusing scenes, most captured my attention quickly and I watched with rapt attention.
There was more depth to the movie. Anyone can make a movie with fancy fighting scenes, cool swords, and a pretty face. But not everyone can make a movie with such depth and feeling. There were several symbolic touches to the movie, as well as a look into the dwarves happy home life. These subtle yet memorable moments left viewers astounded and well-connected to the characters.
And the dragon, oh the dragon. Talk about amazing. I've loved dragons since my childhood, loved the mystical nature of it all, the majestic power that they offer. And the movie did well to keep up this impression of dragons. It was by far my favorite part of the movie. It struck fear deep into my core, as well as great admiration in my heart. That is a difficult combination to create. The dragon was beautifully fierce, amazingly horrifying, and perfectly evil.
The book portrays Smaug as just this.
I never thought I'd be saying this, but the movie was good. Honestly, I'd call it great. Not perfect, but worth the watch.



Based off a story from BMC News
http://www.brashiermiddlecollegenews.org/reviewsopinions/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-continues-the-captivating-journey-in-the-hobbit-trilogy/

Artsy Expressions

Sculpture

Painting

Anything Can Be Art. Everything Is Art.


And not just that, but singing is art, music is art, writing is art, dancing is art, acting is art.
Our world is made of art, just look outside. Art is a way of expression, but also a way of life. You have to choose to look at the beauty of things and be exposed to it, just like you would art. Art is exposure. Exposure to different opinions, different views, different lifestyle, different culture. It's easy to fall in love with art as I have. There is no such thing as being "good" at it. As long as you are enjoying making something, it is art and beautiful in its own way. Art can be taught, but you have to have a heart for it to be able to learn.
Art is different for everyone who experiences it. Which is probably why it works as such great therapy. Art is used in most mental institutions, hospitals, and even homeless centers to heal the hurt and heart broken. It provides positive self-esteem and worth when they are able to create something of their own that other people can enjoy. They get to express their creativity and feelings without saying a single word. For most people, it is easier to do something to get your emotions out than to talk about it. Some people resort to violence, others to drugs, and others to art. Art is a safe way to express your emotions and begin the healing process.
Things like attending cultural events can lower blood pressure and hormone levels, relaxing music can effect anxiety, heart rate, blood pressure, immune response and pain perception positively. People who suffered from arthritis and listened to 20 minutes of their preferred music a day noted reductions in pain. The arts notably improve one's relationship with their family and communication skills. Wall murals and singing are proven to reduce anxiety from patients with dementia. When arts is put into the work place it has a positive impact on staff satisfaction. Even music in waiting rooms has been proven to reduce stress for the patients.
Art also positively effects children. Students who learn art first, do better in other areas of study. Art also gives pleasure and a sense of meaning to students. Art develops social skills and teamwork, as they are encouraged to help each other and share their ideas and be enthusiastic about them. Art also teaches critical thinking rather than getting the correct answer. Art reminds us that the limits of our words do not define the limits of our thinking. Children will say through their art what cannot be said. Art also becomes important to them at that young age, and important to them as an adult and they can appreciate others and the beauty of their art.
When most schools start to lose money, the first thing they cut is the art or music program. I don't believe that this is the right thing because art is the basis for all education. When children, or anyone, is exposed to art, it advances them in the other areas of their life. Art is very important to be mentally and physically stable, as well as education.