Author: beetlejus

New Girl

beetlejus

Teenagers are the worst. As a teenager I can confirm this.

We are the worst.

Quick to judge and slow actually get to know. 

I was the new kid this year, filled with blind hope and joy.  It’s weird coming into a new school as a junior.

Everyone is already old friends and you just come in disturbing the peace. I knew going to such a small school certain instances would present themselves, and I was okay with that.  I was so happy to be going to this brand new school all the other things didn’t really matter.

 When I arrived I was cautious but excited,and I thought everyone was so nice.  Then the first day of school came, followed by the first month and then now.  

Things are weird, things have always been weird for me.  Just like everyone else in the world, I want to be liked.  It’s not a crazy thing to want, everyone yearns for it. 

I don’t want attention, good or bad, I just want people to care. 

Impulses take over my life, I say things I don’t mean and I regret them immediately.   This only leads me to further isolation.  I can’t help but feel like I don’t belong.

 My old group of friends really understood my witty humor that would get dark at times.  Suddenly I tell a joke and I’m the worst person in the world.

 I will adapt though, I have confidence in that, I’ve always been good at that.  This place is my home for the time being and I just have to get use to that.  It was my decision to come here and honestly, I really like it.

But being the new kid just really blows.

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Credit to Tumblr

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Why I Love Art

beetlejus

I love art. 

Ever since I was a small child I’ve been going to museums.  At first I hated them, I mean what kid wants to stand silently looking at art for hours, but now I really appreciate it. 

I have favorite artists now, and with research you find the things these artists have gone through. I see pieces of myself in a lot of my favorite artists.

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Credit to Twitter

Van Gogh has always been my favorite, his use of colors and textures are like no other and never cease to amaze me. My favorite of his paintings is his self-portrait. You can see so much of his inner turmoil in his china blue eyes.

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Credit to Wikipedia

Andy Warhol is amazing.  He was so unique in his time.  He was an idol during his prime.  His art makes you think, its bright colors reel you in and you just can’t stop looking at them.

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Credit to Pursuit Inc

We’re Toast

beetlejus

Today is a terrible, terrible day.

 One of the things I hold most dear could be seriously hurting me.  That’s right, bread may cause cancer.

A report courtesy of environmental research and the advocacy organization Environmental Working Group, shows that potassium bromate is used in at least 86 baked goods and other products found in supermarkets. 

Various lab tests on animals found that potassium bromate causes significant increase in kidney, thyroid and other cancers in animals. Also, a 2011 study found that it can damage DNA  and cause stress in humans. 

It is still unsure how much potassium bromate a human would have to consume before it started to cause health issues.

  Potassium bromate has already been banned by the European Union, U.K, Canada and Brazil.  So what’s with the wait U.S?

  I am ready for the day I can buy as many baked goods from the grocery store and not worry about cancer.  

I mean cancer should be the last thing I should worry about as I walk through the aisles of Vons. 

Maybe I could worry about college or something, but bread cancer? Hell no.

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Credit to Huffington Post

New Ideas For Halloween

beetlejus

Every Halloween there seems to be a myriad of Wednesday Addams, Wes Anderson characters and cats. This year, why not try something different

Instead of being Wednesday Addams try Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice.

Her costume is fairly easy.  You just need a black dress (you can even find this at a thrift store), a floppy black hat and black shoes.  Add some dark makeup and you’re done!

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credit to myspace.com

Rather than being a Wes Anderson character like Suzy and Sam from Moonrise Kingdom, try being a camper from Wet Hot American Summer.  These costumes are fun and easy.  All you need are 80’s teenager basics, and these are easily found at American Apparel.  This is a great group costume too.

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Credit to the New York Times

Then comes the infamous cat, the costume teenage girls tend to gravitate to every year.  Lets try to leave the cat in the past and go with some cute woodland creatures.  Foxes and deer are oh so cute and make awesome costumes.  You can wear a cute and comfy dress and put on some makeup and you’re ready!

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credit to Brit and co

Tim Burton

beetlejus

Tim Burton has always been my favorite director. 

From the first time I saw Nightmare Before Christmas I knew I loved his style.   Burton’s dark and quirky genre of film has attracted many fans, including me, over the years.

The thing that always appealed to me about his work, is that no matter how dark the colors and the characters may be, the movie always seems so bright. 

Take Edward Scissorhands, for example. This movie terrified me the first time I saw it, 7-year-old me would cling to my mother at the sight of a transformed Johnny Depp.

As I got older, I began to look past the frightening front of this movie to the much deeper meaning found in it. 

Edward Scissorhands was much more than a bizarre story about a man with scissors for hands.  It was about isolation and self discovery, and I learned so much from it. 

Movies have always been a constant in my life. 

Whenever I was sad, angry or just felt alone, the eccentric and beautiful characters of Tim Burton would fill me with laughter and joy. 

I related to his characters so deeply – so much they’ve almost became apart of me.

In my life, I’ve always been considered an outsider, I’ve done my own thing and been happy while doing it. 

When I started high school things began to change.  If you weren’t like every other girl in the school you were suddenly weird. 

Not fitting in is an age-old story, especially for teenage girls, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.  I was different, and I knew that, except suddenly it didn’t feel so great.

 Naturally, I turned the imagination of Tim Burton.  His characters are almost always outsiders, look at Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice or Sally from Nightmare before Christmas. 

These two outsiders both have huge hearts and make a difference to the people around them.  That’s what I strive to be. 

While I know I’ll probably never be a Tim Burton character (though Tim if you’re reading this, call me), I know, no matter how weird or different I may be, I can make a difference.

And that’s what I’ve learned from Tim Burton.

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Photo Credit to: http://www.d2fzf9bbqh0om5.cloudfront.net

 

Funny Girls

beetlejus

Before I began to write this, I googled “funny topics to write about”. 

I did this because I am uncreative person who relies on the ideas of others. 

What surprised me was that the number one “funny” topic on the website was “Women can’t be funny”.  Seeing this invoked my inner Hillary Clinton or Susan B. Anthony or whichever feminist you wish to compare me to. 

Obviously I was outraged.  The idea that women can’t be funny is crazy; if I learned anything from my 10 years of watching Saturday Night Live, it would be that Kristen Wiig is hilarious and Justin Timberlake needs to stop writing songs about his…you know.

 In days past, it used to be only ugly girls were funny, now it seems to be only good-looking female comediennes who can crack a laugh.

It used to be that when performing you wanted to look “comical”, much like Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, but now, if you don’t have good looks and, of course, above a C-cup, it’s hard to even score spot at an open mic night. 

While the comedy world isn’t 100% free of sexism, it’s pretty close. 

That person who wrote that “women can’t be funny” topic isn’t really an outstanding model for the entire comedy world. 

I mean that guy probably thinks “that’s what she said” jokes are hilarious and has based his entire sense of humor off South Park. 

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credit to Vanity Fair

#FOODSTAGRAM

beetlejus

In today’s culture, constant sharing of people’s day to day lives has become the norm.  Particularly, sharing of pictures of food.

But why has it become so important that we share images of our meals with the whole world?  Food has evolved from former functioning as nutrition into a source of status and culture.

For example, through the popular social media site Instagram, you’ve probably seen countless pictures of people’s bubble tea from Urth Caffe or someone’s In-N-Out burger. 

Where does this need to share their food come from?  The aestheticism of food has become more important than actual consumption. 

The tradition of mealtime has drastically changed from an intimate gathering to something shared with the whole world.  Specifically, rather than be engaged in food and conversation, individuals remove themselves from the present moment of the meal in order to stage the scene of their food. 

The closeness of a meal is lost by revealing the location of a person as he or she eats. 

The image of restaurants has become a status symbol that is spreading through social media. People have become obsessed with proving their participation in this trend by taking pictures of locations that are coined “popular”. 

The concept these restaurants put out, with help from socialites creates the obsession surrounding it.

Our culture has become brainwashed with the idea that what they eat helps their image.  This also contributes to the growing number of people who believe that their social media image is essential to their lives.

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photo credit Konnectifi

Cult Movies

beetlejus

Most of us know at least one person who can’t get through the week without quoting their favorite cult film,whether it be Heathers, Carrie, Rocky Horror Picture Show or some other enthusiastically admired film. 

But what makes a movie a cult classic?  The term was originally coined in the late 1970’s but has now grown into many captivated fan bases. 

Films that are able to be called a ‘cult classic’ were usually box office flops, or movies nobody really cared about at the time of their release but gained popularity in the years later. 

Cult films are usually timeless, adored by people who watched them at the time of their release along with teenagers and young adults.  Even today you can catch a midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture show at the Art Theatre in Long Beach.

Even though I have never attended one of these legendary screenings, I’ve heard it’s quite an experience.

Along with a love of Whole Foods, Arcade Fire and ugly shoes, admiration of cult movies have become a defining characteristic of the young hipster. 

This probably has something to do with the fact that these ‘cult films’ were ripped to pieces by the critics and virtually ignored by the public at the time of their release, and like any good hipster, they loved it just because it was hated. 

While most cult movies were not positively received at the time of their launch, doesn’t mean they are all bad. For example: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – it’s a great movie but Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4. 

Likewise not all Cult Movies deserved to be on the high pedestal their zealous fans have put them on, such as “The Room”, which one IMDB comment stated “watching this movie felt like being stabbed in the head”.

Why this movie still has a following, I’m not sure. 

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photo credit to cultmovieresearch.com