6 Reasons Community Should Be Your Next Netflix Binge

This is the Community study group - Abed, Britta, Jeff, Shirley, Annie,
Troy, Pierce (and senor Chang)

Netflix and other similar streaming services truly are a modern day luxury that I would struggle to function without.  I have made reference many a time to the notable Marina And The Diamonds lyrics: Tv taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal (from the song "OH NO!" which featured on Marina's 2010 masterful debut album The Family Jewels) because if it came down to it and I had to quote a lyric which resonated particularly with me those are the lyrics that would probably spring to mind.  

 Anyway as pivotal as these services are in many of our lives there is a constant struggle of finding a new TV show to commit yourself to.  There are such a variety of TV shows out there and choosing one to commit your heart and soul to can be extremely hard.  I find this choice much harder after having just finished a show that I have become very attached to, you cant help but compare the new show to the old one and, at least for me, I would often rather just

They sometimes study and often get into
weird/awkward situations together

rewatch this show over and over again to try to live in this fictional world for a little while longer (for me the period of time after just finishing a show often consists of watching commentaries, cast interviews, special features and films featuring cast members who played my fave characters).


In order to tackle this problem I always try to find somebody to do a rewatch with whilst simultaneously also starting a new show - you get the best of both worlds! (Montana, H., 2006-2011).

For those of you out there trying to find a new show to watch I want to propose Community as your next Netflix binge with a list of the leading 6 reasons to justify this choice.  Firstly let me clarify a few points before I begin my list.  

• Community is a sitcom and so if you absolutely hate sitcoms then maybe you should skip this post.
• This show is great for both getting super invested in but also for being an easy watch and so regardless of if you want to pay a lot of attention or not its a fun watch.
• It's available to watch seasons 1-5 on Netflix UK and season 6 on Yahoo.  
• If I go into any more detail about the show then I would be just as well to start my top 6 list
• and so without any further ado
• here we go
• Mario

1. (As stated above) Community Is An Extremely Watchable

Troy and Abed in the morning.  Troy and Abed are in mourning,
Troy and Abed in the morning, nights.

Community started off just okay for me, my sister was on board from the get go and knew she was going to love it but it took me some time to realise that I actually really loved this show.  As with every TV show I watch there comes a moment when I realise I'm no longer just watching the show because it's easy to watch but rather something has happened and I am suddenly invested and my interest is gained.  In Gossip Girl it was the episode where Chuck and Blair first hook up; How I Met Your Mother kind of had me from the get go tbh because I just loved Ted and Robin (a sin in the eyes of most apparently); Grey's Anatomy was probably when Mer and Der started seeing eachother... there is a bit of a theme going on here apparently.  Well I'm a creature of habit and I would say I found myself rewinding Community in order to actually pay proper attention to what was happening during episode 9 of Season 1, this is an episode I have enjoyed watching back after finishing the show.  The show fluctuated from very watchable to contender for my fave throughout season 1.  Basically even before I found myself getting invested I still found it an enjoyable watch and so it really doesn't matter to what level you want to become invested in your next TV binge, you can love this show regardless.

2. The Characters

When Abed imagined himself and his friends in a TV show.

The characters in Community are so interesting because they are all so different, the youngest member of the study group being 18 years old and fresh from high school to the oldest member being in his 70s and coming from a fairly well off and judgmental background.  Each character is dealing with different issues and has ended up at community college for a different reason.  They all have different beliefs and ideals which allows the sitcom to address some pretty complex issues, such as religion and feminism, but in a fun way.

There are 7 members of the 'study group' and then as the show progresses the college dean also becomes a main character.  Generally Troy, Abed and Annie (the youngest members of the study group are considered the firm faves of the show, if tumblr and buzzfeed are anything to go by) Personally I'd have to agree with Tumblr and I'd rate the characters in order of my favourite to least favourite as:

1. Annie
2. Troy, Abed and (sheerly for comedic purposes) Dean Pelton
3. Jeff
4. Britta
5. Pierce
6. Shirley

As the show develops they all become a family of sorts, some characters being noticeably closer to one another than others (Troy and Abed and Jeff and Annie probably spend the most scenes together #BFFGOALS #MILADYMILORD). 

Shout out to Garrett, one of the supporting characters, for giving us classic moments to quote back such as "Crisis alert!" and "It's a bear dance!".  And shout out to Leonard for giving us his food review youtube videos and for being a badass OAP.

Our Annie vs other Annie at the model UN.  Garrett stole the show,

3. Shaking It Up (Non-Live Action Episodes and Innovative Episodes)

Okay so this is where, for me, Community gets interesting and is probably one of the reasons I love it so much!  Community is the only live action sitcom I know to feature non-live action episodes and whole episodes which completely change the usual dynamics of the show 

Ballerannie.  Christmas wizard. Baby doll Shirley. Brittabot. Troy Soldier. Jeff in the box. Teddy Pierce and Abed

The Animation

The Community cast with their puppets. Yes, now that's an adventure.

Season 2's Christmas episode was done entirely in claymation which allowed it to be really original and have a super classic Christmassy feel to it.  Season 3 featured an episode where the characters play a video game and part of the episode features the characters avatars as they make their way through the game.  Season 4 featured an episode done with puppets and Season 5 featured an animated 'G.I Jeff' episode.  I found the show's creativity so impressive and this helped set it apart from other sitcoms I have watched.

 The Innovation

Video game study group. Fucking shit up in the virtual world.

The show also featured episodes which were completely outside of reality or just pretty different to the usual set up of the show.

For instance there were several documentary style episodes changing from the usual camera layout to more of a 'The Office' feel (or you know just an actual documentary feel).  There are many episodes which focus specific events happening at the school but addressing them in a different way, less gripped to reality with more of an exaggerated way of telling the story for instance:

• 'The Floor Is Lava' episode
• MeowMeowBeenz episode where a new app takes over the school.
• Dungeons and Dragons episode 
• Musical Episode
• An episode which takes part within the imaginations of Annie and Abed
• 'Classic Sitcom' style episode with a laugh track.
• Musical Epiosde

Another pivotal and unique episode of Community are the paintball episodes which are discussed below.

4. Paintball Episodes

One of many times the school became a warzone.

Arguably the most famous Community episodes.  Throughout the show there are a few paintball episodes and they are so original and amazing and just really good fun tbh.  In season 1 Modern Warfare the dean announces that there will be a campus wide paintball game and the winner gets an amazing prize.  This leads to total carnage and a full on paintball war breaks out on campus.  This episode does something that most episodes of Community does as it pays homage to many famous films, however this episode does so on a much larger scale than some of the more normal or tame episodes.  This episode also birthed 3 sequel episodes, the season 2 two parter was, in my humble opinion the best one!  These
episodes definitely feature Community at its best. 

5. The Homage Factor/Meta Humour/Genre Spoofs

So Community has a tendency, often through Abed, to make reference to other films and TV shows.  Sometimes full episodes are homage episodes such as 

That time they were in an asylum.

• The Law and Order episodes
• The gangster film themed chicken wing fiasco episode in season 1 
• The previously mentioned glee Christmas episode
• Season 2 paintball part 1 being a spaghetti western and part 2 being Star Wars. 
• Pulp Fiction episode
• Die Hard episode

Then there were the genre spoofs such as:

• (Again) the glee Christmas episode making fun of the musical genre
• Season 2 Halloween taking on the zombie apocalypse genre
• The multiple documentary themed episodes
• The action film genre was taken on during Modern Warfare;
• The classic romance scene of leading guy running through the rain to get the girl starred in a season 2 episode... 
• there were so many more
• I love lists btw, in case you couldn't tell yet

Annie being Abed before actually being Abed that time they
spent an episode being everyone in their imaginations...

Then there were the times the show was so aware that it was a show.  There were countless times when Abed would point out how much their lives were like a sitcom.  In season 2 and entire episode takes place in the study room and Abed states there are doing a 'bottle episode'.  In the shows finale Abed suggests that the study group come up with potential pitches for their ideal season 7.  Season 2 also features a clip episode and throughout the show there is a lot of breaking the fourth wall basically.  

6. Just So You Know, Jeff, You Are Now Creating 6 Different Timelines

One of the most famous gif in the history of time.

Ahhh Remedial Chaos Theory.  An episode from season 3 which produced one of the best GIFs of all time... you know the one, Troy walking into a room to find total and utter havoc.  Fire.  Blood.  Chaos.  Confusion.  Magic.  Madness. Heaven. Sin. 

Basically this is such a great episode I wanted to give it its on section.  Also it kind of creates this alternative timeline which pops up every now and then.  Basically while playing a game of Yahtzee Jeff decides to role a dice to determine who is going downstairs to get the pizza from the delivery man but Abed warns him that by letting a dice decide their fate he is unintentionally creating 6 different possible timelines.  The episode focuses on each timeline showing what happens depending on who leaves to get the pizza.  The episode features guns, weed, kissing, fire, injury, hurt feelings, death, institutionalization and the evil study group from the darkest timeline (who do turn up once or twice later on in the show).  

The Summary

The Evil study group. Minus Evil Pierce and Evil Abed.

Okay so Community is a very bizarre TV show which I have discovered to be very hard to separate into 10 specific categories.  I also feel like this may not sell the show as well as I had hoped because honestly I have come to the conclusion writing this that it's really just a show you have to watch to get. 

The key message

• You have to binge it because the show is so out there and tries so many crazy things that not everything is going to please everyone.  The majority of the show I found to be a hit but there were the occasional episodes I felt were a bit of a miss, just for me.  
• By binging the show you can get past the episode that might not work for you, or even the story lines which sometimes do take things a little too far.  In these moments the show always bounces back stronger than ever.  

An episode I wish they would have shown in full.
What happened to you guys

By the time I finished Community I was very sad that it was all over, the show had a strong final season and the finale was perfect, however it left me wanting more.  The show's tag line has been #SixSeasonsAndAMovie since season 2 and the show's creator has clarified that after the cast have had some time to do other things and when they are all free he still intends to make the movie.  I know what I want the movie to focus on... #USTbetweenacertain2characters

I'm almost done with my rewatch with my sister: her thoughts are that the show is amazing, Abed is the best, she fell out of love with it briefly during a few episodes in the middle of season 5 but thinks that it got back on track and loves it again now.  I'm also at the start of a rewatch with my friend Beth now too.  

So go fourth and view away fellow bloggers.  

We've had six season... now we wait.

xoxo

Less Moo, More Mmmmmm

It's 2016 so unless you've been living under a rock thus far you'll have surely heard of veganism!  

Anyway I want to throw a disclaimed into this post right now in order to prevent you all from seeing the word vegan and automatically deciding to avoid this post like the plague...

Warning: cute pictures of animals throughout post

So disclaimer:  this is not a preachy vegan post that tears apart anyone who isn't vegan and aims to convert those to the dairy free side of life.  Also I want to put it out there that I am currently not even a vegan myself.

Okay so now we have that part out of the way we can continue merrily along.  So as I was saying, pretty much everyone has heard of the term vegan.  Not everyone is completely clear on the terms and conditions that come along with signing yourself up to the vegan lifestyle though.  Basically they include:

• Not eating any animal products (Including meat, dairy, honey and eggs... and yes meat includes fish)
• Not using products that are tested on animals.
• Basically aiming to live a life that is as cruelty free as possible.

Around March time I decided to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian and then for a period of roughly a month during May-June I decided more is more, go hard or go home and adopted a vegan diet.  This post will highlight some of the key things I learned during the period of my life that I, somewhat unintentionally, dedicated to veganism.  

Starting Out: The Power Of Documentaries 

Okay so veganism was never something that I really considered until the end of March this year.  After seeing Ellie Goulding live and discovering that she was vegan an interest in veganism was sparked deep within my soul but ultimately this only clarified to me that I definitely wanted to stop eating meat.  Then I learned that a girl from my work was a vegan also and suddenly veganism seemed more realistic and accessible.  I did some reading and it all sounded good and well but ultimately having just lost meat, which was a fairly major part of my diet, I found that the motivation to lose cheese, chocolate and cake was just not there.  

This is when the documentaries came into play.  I have always found it extremely easy, often a little too easy, to connect with TV and film and so after discovering the pro-vegan documentary section of netflix I was enthralled.  I suddenly discovered the benefits that a vegan diet reaped for myself, the environment and animals. 

The main documentaries that I found both very enjoyable and informative were:

Documentaries are always fun

1. Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret 
2. Food Inc. 
3. Earthlings
4. Vegucated

 

U ok Annie's Boobs?
That smile isn't reaching your eyes

After watching these documentaries I have never been able to look at meat or animal products in the same way, I don't mean that in like a dramatic or lame way... it's just a fact.  They really left a lasting impression on me.  I think that regardless of your diet choice these are interesting documentaries to watch, shining a light on some of the secrets of the foodindustry (both the animal agriculture side of it and the vegetable side).  Earthlings not only changed the way I looked at animals and their produce as food options but also changed the way I look at animals in TV and film, most of my fave TV shows and movies have started an animal at some point and now I cant help but question the ethics of this... 

I also learned that veganism is technically the term given to living a cruelty free lifestyle (so no leather, no makeup or beauty products from companies that test on animals, not using animals for entertainment purposes etc) rather than just a diet (apparently eating a 'vegan diet' is actually just living off of a plant bases diet and does not qualify you to call yourself a vegan...I don't know though I ended up entering the vegan section of tumblr and it was all very scary and a place I don't know that I'd like to visit again, everyone was very angry, horse riding was viewed as a sin, non vegans were called carnists...).  Obviously documentaries are always trying to sell some kind of idea or message and so tend to be pretty biased.  I know for a fact that although these documentaries were American based and claimed that all cattle raised for meat are kept indoors all of these lives there are cows kept in the fields beside my house that will face their demise eventually in a slaughterhouse.  I mean it doesn't make it any better but like yes the documentaries were biased to some extent.

The Honeymoon Period

The first suggestions when I
types "chickens and" into
google was chips :(

Starting out initially I found the vegan diet really difficult because I discovered that many vegetarian and Freefrom products contain egg or milk.  I was at a complete loss for what I could eat, more so for packed lunches at work than dinners.  However, after long I discovered falafel as a sandwich/wrap/bagel filling and it was honestly such a godsend!  I began discovering a lot of new foods that I liked and ultimately by taking chocolate, cakes and many types of crisps off of my snack options I found myself eating much healthier.  I would now turn to healthier cereal options (with soy milk of course) or fruit when I was peckish.  Further, I discovered that there were actually a decent amount of 'accidentally vegan' foods in the supermarket as well as vegan options of classic snacks. 

 Some firm faves include:

• Ready Salted Pringles
• Starburst
• Dairy Free Ice cream
• Oreos
• Popcorn

Over and above this I learned how to make vegan alternatives to pretty much anything I wanted to eat - My fave was the vegan banana bread.  By purchasing dairy free butter and cheese I could still have fajitas, stir frys, nachos, baked potatos, pastas...  The one negative was that I felt myself increasing my carbohydrate intake to compensate for the other foods I could no longer eat.  My shopping bill didn't even increase, probably due to the fact that I was buying less snacks.  Eventually I found that there were vegan chicken nuggets, sausages, sandwich fillings... Ultimately I discovered that it is very easy to eat a vegan (or plant based) diet as long as you are willing to travel to a proper big super market rather than the small local ones... Morrisons appeared to have the most vegan options.

The Downfall

Okay so thus far it would appear that I found it very easy to adapt to this animal product free diet but obviously something went wrong because as I stated at the beginning of this post I am no longer vegan.  So what went wrong?

1. Summer
2. Impromptu meals out
3. Work




Slowly but surely vegan options are becoming
more available.  Yass Ben and Jerry's!

4. Socialising

 I came into the vegan world loving life and then the sun came out and my friends wanted to go for walks to get ice cream... I would spend ages on the internet trying to find ice cream shops with dairy free ice cream options but ultimately there weren't many, I discovered I didn't like sorbet and also there were a lot of cute ice cream shops that my friends, and admittedly I, wanted to visit.  My will power was too weak in the end.  And then there was the discovery than it really isn't that easy to order vegan at normal restaurants, sometimes finding a nice vegetarian option is tricky enough!  Then there was the problem that I get all of my meals provided for free at my work and so although shopping vegan wasn't expensive it was of course more expensive than not shopping at all.  The soup always contained cream, you cant eat a jam sandwich for every meal, chips weren't always an option.  There were always soups, cheese sandwiches, baked potatoes, cheesey broccoli and cauliflower (ew cheese sauce = devils sauce) etc but rarely, if ever, a vegan option.  Lastly there were a lot of events taking place to celebrate the end of university and they always happened to be food based, again rarely with a vegan option.  

 There is a bit of a catch 22 with veganism.  Veganism would become more of an option for people if it became more accessible (the food was delicious and there is a vegan alternative for pretty much anything) however until more people turn vegan and there is a higher demand for vegan food it will never become more accessible. 

The Main Lessons Learned

Pigs are just the greatest

• Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change and the vegan diet is the best tactic to combat global warming (I'm not going into all the ins and outs of this because like I said this will not be a preachy most and if you really care about this point you can do your own research - watch cowspiracy.  For now just take my word for it, it's a truth fact)
• Humans are the only animals who drink other animal's milk and the only animals that continue to drink milk after they are no longer babies.
• Bringing an animal into the world only to cause it pain is always wrong.
• In Scotland veganism is not that accessible in main stream restaurants but is achievable if you chose to prepare your own home cooked meals
• The main problem with veganism is how preachy vegans can be and the way they come across to non vegans.
• It is very hard to not be consumed with veganism when you start and to not become the person described in the above bullet point
• You cannot force people to change and adopt a diet they do not wish to adopt.  You can not force them to listen to the information or care about the information.  It will only make veganism a less attractive lifestyle/diet.
• A lot of people, including my former self, really don't think twice about eating a dead thing.  
• Fish are important too.
• Free range doesn't mean free range and is still cruel.
• Pigs are 100% better than bacon.
• Cheese is very addictive and plays a much bigger role in my life than i ever realised
• Ice cream will always be my downfall.

La Favorita first pizza chain in Edinburgh with vegan cheese

To sum up/the moral of this story/for anyone who is still with me:  I would turn vegan again in a heartbeat if it became more accessible, I can be a very weak willed person and am a far worse person for eating animal products after gaining the knowledge that I have than people are who chose to live without that knowledge.  Using animals for our own personal gain is super selfish and not really fair, people boycotted Seaworld because it was exposed as being cruel but cows, pigs and chickens are kept in similar or worse conditions and nobody cares because these animals were raised to be killed/for their produce.  But is that right?  Is it right to bring a life into the world just to put it through pain and kill it?  I guess ultimately that's for individuals to decide, I know I don't agree with it... then again I'm sitting here with a Toffee Crisp in the fridge to eat later as well as having a cheese sandwich on my mind.  

xoxo

It Was Called The Museum Of Dreams... And It Was, It Really Was!

Thar She Blows

 Let me take you on a figurative journey about a literal journey that I embarked upon with the first mate of my friendSHIP - Lesley Helen.  The theme of the trip was Titanic however, this is 2016 not 1912 and so our journey begins with a flight rather than an ocean voyage.  Well more accurately the journey began at a ludicrously early hour of the morning boarding a bus to the airport... shortly afterward followed by a flight.  The flight was with an airline that undoubtedly would have been the equivalent of  travelling third class with the steerage back in good old 1912 but I wont complain, the fight was fine, the best budget flight of my life thus far, with hardly any rats!  The flight was from good old Edinburgh to Belfast - the birth place of the ill fated ocean liner. 

Upon landing we took a brief minute to work out the bus system and then off we went engines cranked up to full speed ahead, what stood in the path between us and a long, warm, happy and healthy life (unlike the titanic) was not an iceberg and rather it was a man that to this day I am certain that his full time occupation was human trafficker.  Lesley thought he was more likely a full time junkie and tbh either guess was probably pretty spot on.  All we wanted was to get to our hotel, dispose of our bags and get straight to that Titanic museum and all he wanted was to ruin our lives through kidnap and or attempted befriending (neither of which we were interested it).  Luckily we managed to avoid our iceberg, after boarding the bus he headed straight to the back seats and we turned hard-a-starboard narrowly missing disaster and achieving a most enjoyable bus journey with 0 lives lost.  There was a short period of having to walk with him after departing from the bus at the Belfast bus station but we were soon riding solo again, Lesley and I.  I wont go into the morning much more because I know you are all dying to hear about the Titanic museum... suffice it say that we dropped off our bags, went out for breakfast, were offered caviar but turned it down because we never did like it much (lol joke it was a poor mans starbucks breakfast for two, in order to afford caviar we would have had to see our fine things sold at auction, our memories scattered to the wind ) and then it was off to the museum. 

I'm Flying Jack!

The excitement struck when we realised that the buses destination was literally Titanic Belfast, this city was definitely aware that Titanic was its biggest achievement (although is that really a good thing?) and they were going to milk it for everything they could.  We arrived in the Titanic quarter before we knew it and just like that Lesley and I were standing in the birthplace of our favorite doomed ship.  The first stop (after the ticket desk, which, yes, were designed to look like ship windows) was a photo op.  They had a green screen and an array of potential back drops to choose from, it was a no brainer for Les and I that we were going to pose on the bow of Titanic  in the most original way we could think of that we were 100% nobody else had ever done - we did the Jack and Rose "I'm Flying" pose!  The camera man was very impress with our quick thinking and originality.  I was Rose and Lesley was the dashing Mr Dawson.

To be honest I didn't even care how the rest of the day went, I was already super content knowing there was an incredible picture of my best girl and I on the ship of dreams.  However, I am pleased to report that the rest of the museum delivered!  Initially we found ourselves stuck between a group of older adults and a school group, it was all very claustrophobic and it make me kind of wish that the museum tour groups had been assigned according to class, assuring that it wasn't too crowded.  We managed to distance ourselves and this allowed us to take our time absorbing all of the facts and filling our brains to the brim with anything and everything of ship yards, ship building and pretty much anything else ship related.  After the first section of the museum I probably could have build myself my own ship, strong and true, to sail back to Edinburgh.  

If Titanic had been set in 2016

There was then a ride which is always enjoyable, there was even enough carriages for everyone in the museum which is more than can be said for life boats and the passengers of the titanic.  The ride took us on a journey through the process of ship building and although I had all the knowledge of how to build a good ship I realised I didn't have the manual labouring skills - especially with the equipment available to the workers way back in the days of Titanic.  Next we got to the part of the museum focus more on Titanic as a ship rather than the process of how she was built.

We saw models of the different types of accommodation available to passengers and I discovered that third class passengers traveled in rooms not overly smaller than my own bedroom in the flat back in Edinburgh.  We went on a virtual tour of the ship which was probably my favourite part of the museum, if one thing is for sure you can be blase about a lot of things but not about Titanic!  The next room moved us swiftly through the timeline of Titanic's journey, ending with the tragic sinking.  This lead to room where there were statements from survivors of the sinking and there was information on many of the passengers on board.

It was a dreadfully heavy thing, I only
wore it this once.

After this the next room was full of pictures/posters and videos from the many films and TV shows that were inspired by Titanic.  Lesley and I could hear Celine's voice belting out the song that has moved us to our very cores so many times before (music to drown to, now we knew we were in first class) and we spent a very long time watching the clips of Kate and Leo bringing to life the most amazing and heartbreaking fictional couple in the history of time.  We decided then and there that it was about time we watched Titanic again...

The final stage of the museum was a cinema style room where they were, unfortunately not playing James Cameron's Titanic, but were playing a very interesting video of divers exploring the ship wreck and debris.  The whole concept of the ship being at the bottom of the ocean is so strange to me.  In Lesley's words "What once held it up brought it down"  and I give her a lot of shit for this saying because she does bring it up an insane amount of times but she actually has a very good point .  It is curious that the ship was once afloat on top of the ocean and everything was fine but once the water gets inside it led to its downfall#WhenTitanicSankFromUnderUs...

 Anywayyyy.

There was actually one final stop in the museum... The gift shop!! Lesley wanted a mug and I wanted a cup.  Lesley got her mug but the cups were sold out so i considered getting socks or a fridge magnet or like a captains hat before settling on what was undoubtedly the best item in the store - the heart of the ocean key chain!  All I wanted was to purchase two so that I could throw one into the ocean, old rose style but, like Mr Dawson, I am not made of money so one unsinkable keychain it was!   We went to collect our photographs and ultimately they were pure gold as was anticipated so we bought 3 copies (1 each and 1 for luck, all life is a game of luck after all!), we carried those pics around with us all day because we like to take our pictures with us when we travel.  By this stage we were very hungry so Lesley and I decided to go out for some lamb, rare, with very little mint sauce (jk im a vegetarian).  

Take her to sea Mr Murdoch, let's stretch her
legs

The trip feels like it happened 84 years ago but its one I will never forget! I can still smell the fresh paint.  The china had never been used.  The sheets had never been slept in.  Titanicwas called the Ship of Dreams, and it was.  IT REALLY WAS!

P,S

WANNA GO TO A REAL PARTY?  Make it count and check back later for part 2 of the Belfast trip which includes Lesley and I getting very drunk at an Ellie Goulding concert, meeting Mr Andrews, VIP treatment, new found friends, up in the club and a hell of a hangover 

xoxo

Things I'm Loving Right Now: July 2016

I have decided that because it has been so long since I was regularly blogging I should revisit the posts that I have written previously which focus on the subject of things i'm loving right now.  I am a fickle fickle person with constantly changing 'faves' and so considering the length of time since I last updated the blogisphere about my favourite things it's about time I did it again.

So anyway in the words of Maria, these are a few of my favourite things (as of July 2016)

FILMS

Recently my mother dearest informed me that she had a weekly code which allowed me to buy one cinema ticket and get another one for free, this paired with my friend's unlimited cinema card allows us to get into one movie a week for free.  This has allowed me to undertake many a wonderful cinema trips this month.  Some highlights include: 

Ghost Busters

Best film of the year

Okay so honestly previous to like 2 weeks ago the extent of my Ghost Busters knowledge was the logo and the fact that Bill Murray was one of the stars.  However, capitalizing on this Meerkat movie code Sarah and I decided to go see Ghost Buster's and within the first 5 minutes of the film I knew it was going to be a good one, I mean it was a bunch of badass ladies catching ghosts!  Then when the Ghost Busters theme began to play I realised it was not only a good film but it was also going to become a firm favourite of mine, I mean that song got me so pumped and I found myself wishing that I too was a ghost buster.  I feel  fully equipped with the know how to protect myself if worst comes to worst and my city becomes ghost infested.

The film has received a lot of unjust criticism which I think might stem from peoples distaste of the film being remade, especially remade with a female cast.  #Meninist at their best imo...

Highlights:  

• The girl power
• Kate Mckinnon
• The way it made you feel like you were a part of a big franchise/something special.
• The music

Overall rating: 9/10 

(I can't think of anything it could have done better to earn it a 10/10 but 10s are very hard to come by and are mainly reserved for Titanic)

Now You See Me 2

Now you see me, now you dont

Another film that I went to see for free thanks to the Meerkat code was NYSM2.  I loved the first film, it was so clever and action packed.  Initially it took me a while to get to grips with what was happening at the start of NYSM2 because it is a pretty complicated plot to follow but before long I was all caught up.  I'm not going to lie, I love these films but at least 96% of my desire to see this film was based off of wanting to see Dave Franco's face on the big screen... and boy did the film deliver!  I do not feel any more capable of carrying out magic tricks or tossing cards than I did before seeing this film but I guess they never claimed that the film had any educational purposes so I cant hate them for that!  I found the Woody Harrelson twin character and the new female horseman a little irritating at times (ok so the twin was 100% annoying and the girl was only like 60% annoying) but the film was really enjoyable, not as good as the first one but still great for a sequel and I would definitely go see the next one (because there will for sure be a next one, lets be real).  

Highlights

• Dave Franco and his beautiful face and his beautiful voice
• The card tricks 
• The magic and plot twists  
• Dave Franco

Overall rating: 7/10

Sleeping With Other People

Love is all around

This film is the last in the list and the only one which did not include meerkats codes or a trip to the cinema.  This was a film recommended by Beth, I was happy to watch it because it starred two actors I liked -  Jason Sudeikis (a great performance in We're The Millers which is one of my fave comedy films) and Alison Brie (who plays my fave character in community, seems like a fun gal and my only negative of her stems from my jealous of her engagement to my sweet Dave Franco, whom I may have mentioned above?).  The film was probably not that good in reality but I loved it.  It was pretty cute and had its funny moments, a classic easy watch and pretty good in terms of romcoms.  The creepy guy in the filmed turned out to be Leslie Knope's husband from Parks and Rec which was all kinds of confusing.  The highlights just include the fact that it was cute and I love seeing films that star my faves... 7.5/10?  idk

Honorable mentions: The 5 Year Engagement (again probably only good due to it starring some of my faves) and Music and Lyrics (Probably better because of the fun music and the fact that while we were watching it I was also winning a game of scrabble)  

TV

Community

cool cool cool

Okay so I obviously love watching tv shows (#TVTaughtMeHowToFeel) and after finishing Orphan Black I needed something new to watch.  I had heard good things about Community and decided to give it a go, it was super easy to watch but I wasn't that into it until about half way through season 1.  I can't remember the exact point that the show became a firm favourite/obsession/way of life but it really escalated quickly - from my sister and I making up our own Troy and Abed inspired handshakes to us renaming one another to Abed and Annie in one anothers phones... I also may have considered buying an Annie Adderal Tshirt.  Basically it's about a community college study group (although at times it doesn't really seem to be about that at all).  It's so original and spends full episodes paying homage to famous films/sitcom tropes/breaking the fourth wall/creative episodes - there are musical episodes, claymation episodes, bottle episodes, puppet episodes, video game episodes, documentary episodes... It does get a little* crazy sometimes and goes way too far from time to time but it always finds it way back to the perfect balance of fun, funky and fresh.  So far there have been 6 seasons so now we are just waiting for the movie #Sixseasonsandamovie

*by a little crazy I mean it gets really crazy town banana pants.

Highlights

• Troy and Abed  in the Morning 
• Annie and Jeff (its so wrong yet so right #20YearAgeGapGoals)
• The paintball episodes
• Joel Mchale
•  The musical numbers
• Dean Pelton and his many many costumes

Honourable mention: The Office US - I'm only on season 3 thus far so I cant really give it a full review but its hella fun, stars so many great peeps and Jim and Pam give me life! 

MUSIC

Probably the best way to cover the music section is just to list the new songs currently in my spotify playlist, the songs I'm getting turnt up to rn if you will?

Drake - One Dance

Drake ft Rihanna - Too Good

Drake - Controlla

Gwen Stefani - Cool

Kate Nash - Merry Happy

Matt and Kim- Daybreak

Nina Nesbitt - Chewing Gum

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?

The 88 - At Least It Was Here

Charli XCX - You - Ha Ha Ha

Galantis - No Money

Honorable mentions - Marina And The Diamonds whole album Froot...

And Ellie Goulding is still 10/10 of course.

OTHER

You get 2 pig pics because they are so cute

Pokemon Go - Hella fun app that gets you out and about exploring the big city, catching pokemon one step at a time, risking getting run over due to lack of awareness of your surroundings.  Catching about a million and a half of the same Pokemon and doubting the existence of the few Pokemon you have actually heard of

Pigs - Pigs are just the darned cutest little (and many times not so little) animals out there.  Their little snouts and trotters.

little piggy 2 just wants to live a long piggy life

Vegetarian living - So I went from full on meat eater, to vegan to vegetarian.  I'm loving the meat free diet, I look at meat in a completely new way now and struggle to see how I ever ate it in the first place.  I now feel more worthy to declare myself as an animal lover.  One day after it becomes more accessible I would be more than happy to live a completely cruelty free diet life but currently I have found vegetarianism more achievable.  

The moral of the story is that Drake is actually very good and 2016 is probably the year of rap music (in my humble and very musically educated opinion)

Peace out, good vibes

xoxo

My Unpopular Opinions: A Blog Post Idea Stolen From Beth-Oh-La

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

As all of the big fans of this blog will be aware I have been all quiet on the blogger front for an extremely long period of time, however, with university well and truly over and having a fair amount of free time on my hands I am (hopefully) back and blogging it up.

Having taken some time off I found myself both overwhelmed with the sheer number of potential subjects I could blog about yet also struggling to settle on anything.  When I find myself in times of trouble plagiarism comes to me, singing words of wisdom, steal Beth's idea*.  And so it was through one of my nearest and dearest's blog's that I finally decided that the best way to reintroduce myself into the world of blogging would be a quick and simple post listening some of my unpopular ideas...  

Without further ado here they are:

1. Piper Chapman (from Orange Is The New Black) is not a terrible person/character and happens to be one of my favourite characters on the show.

2. In this whole Taylor/Kanye/Kim/Calvin/Katy/etc drama I'm totally on team Taylor - and just generally I like Taylor Swift as a musician and person.

3. Soy milk tastes better than cow's milk.

4. The How I Met Your Mother finale wasn't terrible.

5. Ranch goes well with pretty much everything..

6. Mac and cheese is disgusting (as is pretty much anything with cheese sauce on it #devilsauce).

7. Season 4 of Community was one of the best seasons.

8. Coke/diet coke/all similar coke products are horrible.

9. Adele and Beyonce are (unquestionably talented) but very overrated.

10. Ross Geller was the best character from Friends.

11. Hashtags are amazing.  You can never have enough.  You should also definitely talk in hashtags in normal face-to-face conversations. #Hellafun

12. 'Dad bods' are better than 'lad bods'.

13.  Less isn't more.  More is more.

14. Sketchers is probably the best brand of shoe #comfortgoals #memoryfoam

15. Taking pics/vids of every situation is often better than 'living in the moment' #picsoritdidnthappen

So there you have it, a list of my uncontroversial and pretty uninteresting unpopular opinions... 

Until next time
xoxo

*Link to Beth's blog post: https://bethohla.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/my-unpopular-opinions_27.html?showComment=1469113032140#c2376670545972061915