Author: Jordan Brown

I’m a sophomore studying economics and communications. I’m also a movie junkie who specializes in rom-coms with the philosophy that life is better at the lake.

Endgame

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On April 26th the last movie of the Avengers franchise will be released.  This movie has been highly anticipated since the shocking end to the last Avengers movie, and fans cannot wait to see who will be left standing at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

While this is the last Avengers movie, it is not the last Marvel superhero movie.  There are other Marvel movies already being cued up with everyone’s favorite characters from the Marvel Universe.  One movie that has been talked about for some time now, and that has been confirmed is coming out in 2020 is “Black Widow”.  Black Widow first made her appearance in Avengers and has been in other Marvel movies but has not had a solo film. Fans will be excited to get to know more about her and her backstory.  Another film set to release is the Black Panther sequel. The first film broke many records and was nominated for an oscar for best film. The sequel has been highly anticipated since the release of the first movie.  Two more sequels are also already confirmed to be coming out in the coming years: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and a Doctor Strange Sequel. Both of these movies joined the franchise later and made their first group appearance in the previous Avengers movie.

Not only are there many movies still in the works to continue to build on the Marvel Universe, but there are also TV shows that are being made.  A confirmed show that is being made is “Falcon and Winter Soldier”, as well as “Hawkeye”. These two shows in particular, similar to the Black Widow movie, will be the first solo project for these Avenger members.

While the group movies of the Avengers will be over soon, over the past several years every movie seems to feature at least two or three Avengers.  This means that as the Marvel Universe moves forward we will most likely still see the characters that we have fallen in love with since 2010. While Thor doesn’t have his own movie or TV show, there is a good chance that he will make at least one appearance in at least one of these sequels and Television shows.

Game of Thrones

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One of the most anticipated shows, Game of Thrones, comes back and starts its final season on Sunday.  It has been two years since the last season, season 7, aired on HBO, and people cannot wait for to see the final season.  There are no rules in the show and everyone is waiting to see who, if anyone, will survive till the end of the show. Game of Thrones is one of the most watched shows in the U.S. right now, so there will be many watch parties for the premier of the final season.  Here are some ideas for a Game of Thrones watch party.

Game of Thrones is a show that you have to devote your entire attention to or else you will undoubtedly miss something important in the show.  But if you think that you can handle multitasking, there are many drinking games that are fun to play to the show. These could be good to make you and your guests watch the show more closely to see when you have to drink.  My favorite list is to drink when: Daenerys dragons appear, someone gets drunk, main character dies, Little Finger schemes, when there is lots of violence, white walkers appear, the Iron Throne is shown, and someone says “winter is here”.  This list will make you drink steadily throughout the episode.

While it is hard to eat while watching game of thrones because of the gore, some snacks would be ideal for a watch party.  An easy snack is to make Game of Thrones cookies, they may be difficult to decorate if you decide to put the houses banners on them.  You could also just decorate them with house colors or with each houses saying, such as “Winter is Coming” and “Fire and Blood”. Another idea is to make cake pops that are shaped like dragon eggs, or even just a cake that is shaped like a dragon egg.  If you have all three eggs guests can choose which dragon they want to eat.

The last thing that you could do for a Game of Thrones watch party is to dress up for it.  It is hard to find any clothes that resemble the characters that are under $70, but shirts are only $20.  There are many shirts that say “Winter is coming”, “You know nothing, Jon Snow”, and “A girl has no name”. You could buy a shirt that represents you favorite character and wear it in the hopes that they will not die.

Relaxation

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With final exams around the corner, now is the time of year that students are the most stressed.  There seems to be no free time during exam season, and the little free time that you do have is spent studying in the library.  There are some easy and fast ways to relax that will also destress you, which is perfect for exam season.

One easy way to relax that you can do in between studying, or even if you take a 10 minute break from studying is to create a pattern to draw all over a page.  You pick one design (bubbels, diamonds, spirals, etc.) and you fill the page with it. This allows you to focus on one thing while you take a break from studying, so your brain is not swirling around thinking about everything else you have to do before the end of the year.  It allows you to put all of your focus on this one task, which can be very relaxing because you are not stressing about anything else. This is also a great relaxation task because you don’t have to finish in one go. You can continue the doodle everytime you take a small study break.

Meditation is also a great way to relax and de-stress.  It is a great way to clear your mind and to make your body less tense.  Meditation can also be done during a study break, or it can be done in the morning when you wake up and at night right before you go to bed.  This way you start and end your day relaxed and on a positive note. There are many ways to meditate and different ways work for different people.  A popular tool is the mindfulness app, it is great for beginners and will walk you through many different medications. It also has meditations for different situations, like not being able to fall asleep.

Food is Art

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Food is a huge part in everyone’s lives.  Not only is it essential for life, but it is also a huge part of people’s social lives.  One of the easiest activities to do with friends is to have a meal them, and to go out to eat.  The food network and the internet have also brought attention to the idea that food is art. There are so many videos going viral on Facebook of beautiful pastries and cakes being made.

One of my favorite youtube channels about food is bon appetit.  My favorite segment is about this chef remaking people’s favorite childhood snacks from scratch.  She does not have a recipe to go off of, she just looks at how the food is constructed and continues to make it until it is a perfect (if not better) replica of the food.  She will spend sometimes up to two weeks trying to perfect one recipe. Some examples of what she has made in the past is Skittles, Oreos, Cheetos, and Pringles.

Another very popular youtube channel and also has viral videos on Facebook is Tasty.  Tasty does a variety of videos with their most common type being making a dessert with some friendly music playing in the background.  My favorite segment of Tasty videos is when a chef makes gigantic versions of food. He has made a pizza slice the size of a cookie sheet, and a burger the size of a pizza pan.  I enjoy it because you not only watch him cook but he also explains how he is making it so that you learn how to make a normal or giant version of the food.

Another popular food segment is called Worth It.  It is a segment from Buzzfeed’s youtube channel. The videos feature two people who pick one food and go to three different restaurants around town to try the same food at three different price points (low, medium, high).  The show is interesting to watch because you get to see what the different restaurants do to the food that makes it a different price. It’s also great if you live around the area or are planning to travel there to already know of some famous restaurants to try.

Spring Cleaning

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With the weather becoming warmer, more people are ready for spring and have begun wearing there spring clothes even though it is still 30 degrees outside.  Most people think of spring as a new beginning. It’s when the flowers bloom and the birds come back and the trees regrow their leaves. It is also when most people decide to clean.

Spring cleaning is very common, most people want to declutter their houses and their things when the weather gets nicer because they have a boost of energy from actually being able to go outside again.  I also enjoy spring cleaning, particularly the part where I go through all of my things and get rid of the things that I no longer need. But I always have issues with this. How do I know that I don’t things anymore?  What if a situation pops up where I need this stapler that I have not used in over 9 months? I have begun looking online for tips about how to go through your things to decide what to keep and what to give away.

The most popular thing to clean out is your closet.  You have to go through it anyways to put all of your sweaters and winter clothes in a bin and then to take back out your tank tops and shorts.  But it can be hard to decide what clothes to keep or not. I have a lot of clothes that I never seem to wear but I have to keep them just in case a special occasion arises where I need them.  The best strategy that I have seen when deciding what clothes to keep and what ones to give away is to turn all of your hangers in one direction, and when you where that item of clothing switch the direction of the hanger.  This way after a certain amount of time (the time frame I saw was 4 months) you can see if there are any clothes that you have not worn at all. If you haven’t worn a shirt in 4 months, that generally means that you do not need it anymore.  While this method takes a while and might not entirely count as spring cleaning, I think that it is the most effective way to clean out your closet.

When deciding what items to keep that are not clothes, it could get a little trickier.  I have several boxes of things that I never open but I can’t get myself to get rid of them.  The most helpful things that I have found to do are similar to what you do with clothes. As you are going through things you ask yourself when the last time you used it was, and if it has been a long time then get rid of it.  Some things that are small you might be able to get rid of and on that weird occasion that you need it you can ask a friend because chances are that they will have one laying around somewhere.

Spring cleaning, while it might not be the most fun, always makes you feel better once you’ve done it.  Your house and closet looks less cluttered, and you feel less cluttered and more refreshed.

Live Action Disney Movies

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There has been a new trend over the past couple of years in the Disney movies that have been released.  Live action Disney movies started with the live action Cinderella and are still continuing now. There are three that are being advertised right now: Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

The trend started with Cinderella.  The movie was almost an exact replica of the animated version.  They had tweaked a couple of things and made the movie as beautiful as possible.  This movie was beautiful to watch, and gave you the same magic as the animated version.  Beauty and the Beast was similar to Cinderella in the fact that it was very similar to the animated version.  Both movies included the most popular songs and followed the plot very closely.

For some of the movies Disney has changed the formula a little bit.  The live action version of the Jungle Book was very different from the animated version.  In the live action they only include the most popular songs and they add more to the movie to make it more cohesive and have more substance.  The live action Jungle Book improved upon the original animated version of the movie. The movie Maleficent also didn’t just recreate a past movie.  But this is because there was no Maleficent movie before this one. This entire live action movie was based off of Maleficent’s part in Sleeping Beauty.

The new Disney live action movies are coming out throughout the rest of this year.  Based on the trailers for the movies, we cannot tell if they movies will follow the plot lines to a T like they had for Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.  I think that The Lion King and Aladdin will follow the original’s plot very closely but Dumbo might stray from it a little more. Dumbo might not follow the movie exactly because the original is not as popular with children now.  The animated version of Dumbo was also a little darker than most Disney movies are now, so I think that it might have a more happy and positive tone than the original.