X-Men - Days of Future Past

There is a lot of anticipation and questioning leading up to the opening of this movie. I had a talk with a friend last night about X-Men, since they are a little more invested in the characters than I am. Confused as to why The Last Stand wasn't the last movie, we discussed this. I can understand the going back in time to create answers to some questions of the future/past movies. It reminds me of The Fast and The Furious movies. You can see more on that here. So basically, in this last and final movie, Wolverine is sent back into the past to change the future events from happening. To save the future. When I saw the previews for the movie, I had one question. Why is Charles walking? For anyone who didn't see X-Men: First Class, sorry but, Magneto kind of put a bullet in his spine. This answers the question: How did Charles become paralyzed? That's how. Magneto did it. Ooh, Magneto. How could you? So, at the end of that movie, Charles is in a wheel chair. But in Days of Futures Past, he's just walking around, punching people and what not. How? I read somewhere that Hank created a technology to make it so Charles could walk again... This.. is what I heard. But, I'll never know until I see it and I really can't wait. The anticipation is rising and I can only hope that it turns out to be as good and as satisfying as it seems to be.

The Fast and The Furious and Paul Walker

It's been almost 14 years since The Fast and The Furious originally came out. Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and many other characters in the movie stole the hearts of many fans and created a huge fan base that would last through the years. The original movie had Dominic Toretto, Mia Toretto (Dom's sister), Letty, Jesse, Leon, and Vince and they had their little crew of street racers. Brian O'conner was an undercover cop trying to infiltrate their gang to get answers on a case. He ends up starting a love affair with Mia and a great friendship with Dom. At the end, he is found out to be a cop and everyone turns on him, Jesse dies, Leon, Vince, and Letty all flee and Brian ends up giving Dom his car keys to escape the police, questioning his commitment to his job. In the 2nd installment, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tyrese was introduced as Roman Pearce, an old friend of Brian's who went to jail on account of some things the two of them got into years back. He seemed pretty pissed off at Brian about the past events but agreed to do a legit job with Brian to clear his record and get Brian back on good terms in the force after the LA incident. They completed their job and that was it. There was no sign of Toretto or any of his crew anywhere. The movie was strictly about Brian and that was fine. But there was a bit of confusion when Tokyo Drift came out. I mean, it didn't even have Paul in it and Paul is the main character or at least one of the most important ones. It had some guy with an accent. I forget his name. Oh, and Bow Wow was in it too. It was kind of a train wreck, in all honesty. It definitely didn't measure up to the awesome that the other 6 bring to the screen. However, Tokyo Drift brought an important character into the mix with Han and it also allowed for the writers to go back in time with future movies. When Fast and Furious (movie number 4) came out, it's time placement was supposedly way before Tokyo Drift even happened. Han was a part of Doms' new crew along with Tego and Rico and the one and only Letty. The timing was some unknown time after the LA incident. In the beginning of Fast and Furious, Dom and his crew create a lot of heat for themselves and Dom decides that they need to split up. Letty doesn't want to, but Dom flees in the night. Later, while Dom is away, he receives a call from Mia, telling him that Letty is dead. This brings him back to LA for one thing, revenge. This is an important factor that plays out through the rest of the series. Letty was an important character and the love story between her and Dom was always so epic. It was undeniably amazing. When we found out that she had died, there was a wave of sadness but a part of me never really felt like it was real. Dom and Brian are feuding in the beginning but eventually join forces to take down Braga, who is the guy they believe to have killed Letty. It is then that Dom finds out that Brian had Letty working for him and that she volunteered herself to clear Dom's record so that he could come home but that was unfortunately cut short when she was killed. Dom gets his revenge and is unfortunately still sentenced to prison for a very long time but his crew, including Brian and Mia, comes to break him out which is the opening for Fast Five. They succeed and they end up in Brazil. Instead of hiding out and laying low, they meet up with Vince, which was a nice surprise, to pull off a job. Unexpectedly, things go wrong. Yeah, unexpectedly... They end up getting on the bad side of this drug lord in Brazil. The one guy in Brazil that you probably do not want to piss off, they did. But they weren't backing down. Of course not. They pissed him off even more. They decided they were going to take him down so they called an entire crew out to help. This time their crew included some characters with small parts in previous movies like Ludacris, who played Tej, a mechanic and tech savvy friend of Brians' in 2 Fast 2 Furious and Gal Gabot, who played, Gisele, an employee of Braga's organization turned friend of Dom when she helps him find Braga at the end of Fast and Furious. The rest of the crew includes Tego, Don, Roman, and Han. It's just like any of Fast and Furious movies, except for the fact that they are all fugitives now and being hunted down by Dwayne Johnson, who plays Luke Hobbs, a huge ass federal agent extremely dedicated to finding them and throwing them in jail. Dom and his team plan this elaborate heist to steal all of Hernan Reyes, the Brazilian drug lords money and buy their freedom. Dom crosses paths with a beautiful federal agent named Elena, played by Elsa Pataky. They connect deeply because they both know what it's like to have lost the love of their lives. He lost Letty and her husband was killed. It isn't said in the movie whether or not they were interested in each other or were going to end up together because there was too much going on otherwise. Unfortunately for Doms' crew, eluding Hobbs doesn't last forever and right before they put their plan into motion, Hobbs finds them and arrests them. In route, Hobbs team is ambushed by some of Reyes minions and Hobbs entire team is killed, but Doms team comes to the rescue and kills the rest of the minions, saving Hobbs from death. Unfortunately Vince is killed during the shoot out. They all decide to go through with the mission and Hobbs joins them, wanting revenge for the death of his team. They succeed at killing Reyes and stealing the giant safe he put his all of his money in to keep hidden from them at the police station. But, unfortunately for Hobbs, they tricked him into thinking that the money was in that particular safe. They switched the safes and when Hobbs gives them a pardon for 24 hours, they disappear into the distance. That's 100 million dollars they now had to share between the 9 of them. At the end of this movie, Hobbs, still in search of them, is given a picture of Letty, still alive. In the opening of Fast and Furious 6, Brian and Dom are racing down some mountain like highway and their destination is to the birth of Brian and Mia's first child. Everything seems to be going great but then Hobbs shows up. He shows them a picture of Letty which sparks Dom's interest. He offers them all full pardons if they take down, Shaw, a mastermind who runs mercenary drivers across 12 countries, played by Luke Evans. He also runs Letty, which is the only reason Dom is all in. Mia stays behind while Brian and Dom head to London. This time the crew includes Brian, Dom, Hobbs, Elena, Gisele, Han, Roman, and Tej. Bye bye Tego and Rico. When the crew gets to London, they are immediately put to work. Dom spots Letty and Letty immediately..... shoots him. He recognizes her but she doesn't seem to recognize him but she does recognize that he knows her. That much she can tell. While Dom and the rest of the crew continue to try to track down Shaw, Brian goes to prison to find Braga and get information on Letty. Although highly unrealistic, Brian goes into prison with the intent on gaining information and then getting out. He finds Braga and is able to get the full story on what really happened to Letty. Once Letty was on one of Braga's teams, it was already set up for her to die because that's the way things work in their oganization. Letty was able to escape but only to have a member of Bragas organization crash her car. Although in Fast and Furious it shows her car getting crashed and her being shot, it is described by Braga to have been just the beginning.. Because apparently, she survived. Shaw is revealed to be one of Bragas connections. While Letty was in the hospital with amnesia, Shaw attempts to finish the job but he saw her loss of memory as an opportunity he could capitalize on. So, he made her a part of his team. After Brian finds this out, he leaves prison and makes it back to London to help out the team. Very realistic outcome. Once Brian realizes that Letty may be a different person now, he tries to explain that to Dom, but to no avail. Dom isn't ready to give up on the love of his life. After Dom challenges Letty to a race, they stop in some empty lot. He talks to her, gives her the necklace he had kept, tells her where she got certain scars and tries to jog her memory of him and of their epic love story although I'm not sure he does. Then, he has a pretty epic moment with Shaw. One of those manly, face to face momens that Vin is so good at. Later Tej tracks Shaws next attack to be in Spain so that's where they go. Shaw commandeers a tank and begins to destroy cars on the highway they are on while Letty rides by his side seeming a bit unsure. Roman and Brian flip the tank and while Letty is throw off of the tank, Dom leaps to save her, risking his own life. Shaw is captured along with his men but when it is revealed that he kidnapped Mia, they are forced to release them. Letty decides to stay with Dom. While Shaw and his crew are trying to escape, Doms crew assembles to begin the chase. Shaws team boards a large aircraft speeding down a runway. Dom, Hobbs, Letty, and Brian board the aircraft and begin fighting. Brian rescues Mia and they escape on a car that was on board the aircraft. The rest of the team is below in cars chasing the aircraft. Han and Gisele, Brian and Mia, and Tej and Roman are all in separate cars and they each tether their cars to the aircraft to stop it from taking off. When it tries to take off, it is weighed down by the weight of them and their cars. Unfortunately, Gisele sacrifices herself to save Han from one of Hobbs men. As she falls to her death, that moment alone is devastating. Before she even hits the ground, before we even know for sure that she has died, we are devastated. And at that moment, pieces fall together. It began to be a question of why and when Tokyo Drift even happened and why Han had to die in that movie. But, here we see why. The love of his life has just sacrificed herself to save him and subsequently he has nothing left to really live for. So, his death in Tokyo Drift comes together as him just following that love of his. Anyway, while in the aircraft, Dom is still fighting with Shaw. He continues to go after the computer chip they've been searching for while Letty escapes the aircraft with Hobbs. Shaw is thrown from the plane to his death as it crashes into the ground and Dom gets into a car and escapes the aircraft through the nose while the plane explodes. Dom walks away from the firey explosion and gives Hobbs the chip. It is revealed then to everyone that Gisele has died and there is a sad moment between them. What happens next is pretty heart warming but slightly unsatisfying in my opinion. For those who have watched the series from the very start remember that little house that started it all. Dom and Mia's house. The next scene shows them all at that very same house, living, and able to finally be free, in a place that they all call home. They are having a BBQ of course. Why not? It brought you back to the very beginning and that was a good feeling. Hobbs and Elena show up to confirm that the gang is all pardoned. Elena accepts that Dom has chosen Letty and she understands. Before it ends, Dom asks Letty if any of this felt familiar and she says "No, but it feels like home." That was kind of bittersweet. Because although she still didn't remember what the hell she was even doing there, she could at least acknowledge that she belonged. One can only hope that she will one day remember exactly why it felt like home in the first place. As a preview for the 7th movie, they show the scene from Tokyo Drift in which Han is racing and is hit by an oncoming car and then dies. The driver, an unknown character played by Jason Statham, gets out of the car and called Dom saying "You don't know me. You're about to." Quite the preview if you ask me. A little confusing because some of us thought that Fast and Furious 6 was the final and the way it ended was a pretty good ending. But nope! Still going and now this will be the final especially with the untimely death of Paul Walker. May he rest in peace. I know that Paul Walker is missed all over by his loving family, friends, and many many many fans. He seemed like a really amazing guy and he was taken from us too soon. It is said that most of the important scenes were already done by Paul, but that his brothers will be stepping in to help finish up some scenes and "fill in the gaps." I know that I will be there to see this movie to show my support no matter what, although I would have even if Paul had not died, and I know for sure that there will be many others who will do the same.

Euphoria Fest 2014

The Euphoria Fest is one of those great festivals you’ve possibly been hearing about if you are into the EDM scene. I had the pleasure of attending the event last year and I wasn’t in the least disappointed. It was kind of a last minute thing for my best friend and I that I set up. I saw that Bauuer would be there and a few other artists I had heard a little from so I thought it’d be a great thing to experience. It isn’t the biggest, most outrageously priced and set up event. It’s one of the smaller ones you go to with a group of friends. When we went last year, it was in New Braunfels at this park and the park wasn’t big at all. Nonetheless, they had art, they had food, and they had music, which is all I need. When it was still light out, people were lounging, relaxing, mingling and talking and we saw one guy get thrown out due to his drunkenness before the sun even went down. When the sun finally went down and we could see the light display, things got awesome. Things got real awesome. When DatSik performed, I was in awe. He did an excellent job and everyone wanted an encore. Designer Drugs performed earlier on and they were honestly one of the best acts. Bauuer did a great job as well. Of course, he had to play the Harlem Shake which was insanely popular at the time. There were many other acts including EOTO and Downlink. We definitely had a great time and from that point on, I’ve really gotten into EDM. This year, the event is being held in Austin and the lineup has a few impressive acts. They’ve got Zeds Dead, Gareth Emery, Bro Safari, DVBBS, Keys N Krates, Beats Antique and many many more. If you’re really into dance music and festivals, this might for sure be something you’d be interested in. EDC and Ultra charge an arm and a leg but the lineup is incredible. For someone who may not be able to afford the crazy 2 and 3 hundred dollar bill that comes with EDC not to mention a flight to Vegas, Euphoria Fest might be a great alternative, especially if you live close by. It was fun for me and I have no doubt that it’d be fun for anyone who wants to go this year. If you’re interested, you can check out tickets here

Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) 2014

It’s almost here people! The biggest EDM festival in the country, is finally on it’s way to two of my favorite places: NY and Las Vegas. EDC started in 1997 with it’s first rave being at the Shrine Expo Hall in LA. Founded by Insomniac Events, EDC was held in many different cities in California during it’s early years of business. 16 years later and here we are. The electric daisy carnival has upgraded over the years and is now one of the most spectacular music festivals there is. In 2010, it became the largest music festival outside of Europe, filling the house at its event in LA. In 2009, Insomniac brought the event to Puerto Rico and there have been many other cities in the United States they have brought the event to as well. The event has been held in states such as California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. As of 2013, the remaining list of locations includes, New York City, NY, Mexico, US, Chicago,IL, Las Vegas,NV, Dallas,TX, Orlando, FL, San Juan, Puerto Rico, London, UK, and Mexico City, Mexico.  It began as a one day event but in 2009, it expanded to a 2-day event and in 2011, the Las Vegas event lasted 3 days and still does. The EDC NY Event was held in New Jersey in 2012 for the first time. It is now held in New York City, NY.

Electric Daisy Carnival, New York, 2014

This years memorial day stands to be one of for the ages for many, many dancing kids and adults. It’s an amazing event filled with lights and rides and music and crazy, wild fun. But, it’s only one of the events leading up to the ultimate prize, EDC Las Vegas!

Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas, 2014

I’m excited for this and you should be too. Although, it is already sold out, you will still be able to marvel at the magnificence it brings.  It’s Vegas! The place where people go and leave their inhibitions at the door. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right? I may not be the first to say this but, What happens at EDC stays at EDC and the fact that this event is held in Vegas only helps that phrase along. If you ever decide to go to an EDC event, be prepared for things like

Fun, fun, fun!

Well I think you get it now.

Just imagine going to a carnival mixed with loud speakers and bass and DJ’s and food and drinks and drugs (be careful!) and the prettiest lights you will have ever seen. That is what this event is all about. You can see from the pictures that this event is a dream come true and tons of amazing fun. To everyone who is already planning on going, I hope you have the time of your lives! I hope to be going to one as well. One day.

Film: Starred Up (2014)

Read a good review of the Film: Starred Up (2014) which you can find by clicking on the name. I just couldn’t help but be excited to see Jack O’Connell. Love this kid. He’s a great, passionate actor. Everything I have seen him in, he’s just done an excellent job selling the character. He does it for me in so many ways. He brings just the right amount of emotion to the screen to make you feel for his character. He brings you to a point where you begin to believe that he is the character and that he is in the situation, right here and right now.  He’s had his share of experience which you can find here

I’ve been such a huge fan of him for awhile so please, check some of his stuff out. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s one of my favorite shows that he starred in.

Skins – Series 3-4

If you’ve never heard of the UK Show Skins, you might want to get on that right away. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been into shows that show struggle, pain, emotion, heartache and if it involves teenagers or young adults, that’s even better. Because, contrary to parents beliefs, who seem to have forgotten what it was like to be a kid, us young people go through a lot sometimes. Skins was a great show that followed the lives of these 17-18 year old kids in their final two years of high school. They were lovers. They were fighters. They were friends or “mates”, scared, broken, tough, drunk,  and high individuals. Each one with a different story. “Cook” was played by Jack O’Connell and he was one of the worse off ones in the group. Plagued by a neglectful mother who was more interested in her job and fucking people than she was in her family. We’ve all seen those types. He seemed so alone. He seemed like he didn’t need anyone though until he met Effy and fell in love. The way he projects those feelings onto the screen just blows me away. Unrequited love. That’s it right there for you to see. For you to witness and have your heart break for him. Skins is a one of those shows for the ages. It’s one of those shows you can look back on when you get older and think to yourself Damn, when were we ever that young? Because honestly, I can’t think of a time where I was ever that young. I can’t think of a time where I just let my world consume me and just let all of the bad things in and just fell. Sometimes I wish I could go back and let it all hit me at once, the same way they did. See the world through those glassy, dilated eyes. See the world through the right now that is right now. Place myself in the now more than I’ve ever been able to before. Spend my time wrapped up in the thoughts and stars.

How I Met Your Mother Ending

This show had an amazingly epic run that came to an odd end a couple of weeks ago. Took me awhile to digest the ending but here I am. The sitcom ran for nearly a decade and gave viewers that same feeling that Friends did many years back. It was something we all could relate to sometime or another and it was entertaining as hell. It was funny and the catch phrases people got from the characters, Barney especially, will forever be remembered. I think there was one thing, maybe two, that viewers were waiting to see on the finale. Everyone wanted to see if Robin would go through with marrying Barney or if she and Ted would get back together. What happened? Confusing shit happened. Let’s go back. When Robin and Ted were dating, you could probably hear the hearts melting. That would sound terrifying but still, heart warming. They were that couple. The one that you aspire to be. The one that you see drift apart but silently die inside, hoping that it’s just a momentary lapse of closeness. I, for one, never gave up on Robin and Ted, but they went their separate ways for good at some point and although they would look back every so often, the idea of Barney and Robin began getting drilled into everyones brain. I too, at some point, started to kind of, maybe just a little bit enjoy the idea of Robin and Barney. They had so much in common but I didn’t really think that two people exactly the same could last. So fast forward to the ending. How did those awesome writers decide to end a decade of epic awesomeness? Robin and Barney did end up getting married. Robin put Ted behind her and decided to move on with Barney. That was her choice. And it was there that Ted met their mother, Tracy. After years of those writers forcing Robin and Barney down our throats, many people were at peace with this decision. But wait! There’s more! What happens next is the confusing part. Turns out that after 3 years of marriage, Barney and Robin get divorced. We find out that Barney fathers a child with a one night stand he once had. And we also find out that Tracy dies of Cancer 6 years prior to Ted beginning this epic tale. Lily and Marshall have three children and Marshall becomes a judge too, blah. At the very end, after Ted is done telling his story to his children, they are pushing him to ask Robin out.  FLASHBACK! In the pilot episode, Robin sees a Blue french horn in a restaurant called “Carmichaels” and Ted says that it reminded him of a smurph penis. Robin says that she’d like it for her apartment so Ted steals it for her. After that she kept it on her mantel in her apartment. During the ups and downs of their on again off again relationship, the blue french horn kind of symbolizes where their relationship is. The first time they broke up, Ted being forced to return the blue french horn to carmichaels symbolized them being over. The horn went back and forth between the two several times and before the series finale, it was back at carmichaels again. FLASH FORWARD! Teds kids are urging him to go ask Robin out, so at the very end of the series, it shows Ted standing outside of Robin’s apartment holding the blue french horn. And that’s it. That’s how they decided to go out. Sentimental, yes. But how is that logical? The way they crammed all of those years into one final show kind of throws me off. But then again the show is called how I MET your mother, not how I met and courted and dated and loved and all of this other shit.. your mother. I think that the writers could have taken the ending in a different direction but I’m not disappointed that Ted and Robin got back together. I spent so long being disappointed that Robin and Barney were falling for each other that I was just relieved that Ted was able to get his real true love back at some point. So his wife had to die for that to happen. I mean, that’s not crazy at all right? Right??…

Day Two: Netflix is life!

Netflix! You know that useful app or err, website that allows you to watch all the movies and shows in the world! Just kidding. There's maybe a hand full of movies on there I'd love to watch. And maybe 10-15 I'd take the time out to sit through. As for shows, I'll admit, there's quite the hefty collection. And because of that, I've been spending my lonely, boring days watching series I've seen and ones I've never seen. I took the time out to watch orange is the new black. So many people were in my ear about this damn show. "Watch it or we aren't friends anymore." A good good friend of mine said to me one random night. I told her "IM WATCHING ONE TREE HILL RIGHT NOW!" I mean, I was. I had watched the series growing up but I wanted to re-watch it. So sue me! But, I had been meaning to watch the show anyway so I started that night. I watched 4 episodes that Thursday night and finished the series by the end of the weekend. Boy

Oh boy. Where do I start? A prissy white girl named Piper going to jail for being a mule to her drug dealer ex girlfriend, Alex, whom she was lesbian with some years back.. but that was just a phase of course. Totally not going to turn gay again while in jail. Plus, that's against the rules in jail. No having sex with the inmates in jail! No no! Bad! She's got a fiancé, Larry, who is played by the guy from American Pie... Just let that sink in. I couldn't take him seriously after American pie first came out. And then all of those sequels. And now, he's this serious, well put together young man with a weird jealousy and misogynistic attitude towards the things Piper has done in the past. He kind of hates Alex and fears how Piper will handle being close to her once we find out that Alex is in there. Piper tries ignoring Alex for awhile and she's an outright bitch to her. She was such an asshole but Alex is this tall, fierce chick with glasses that doesn't let anything phase her, all the while it does phase her on the inside, but she doesn't let it show. But damn, if you've seen Laura Prepon, you probably wouldn't be able to fight off any feelings toward her. The chemistry is great between the two of them. I don't want to spoil anything for people who have yet to watch it so I won't say if they get together or not. But whether they do or not, that chemistry makes the show pretty hot by itself. 

So, I finished orange is the new black. I tried watching lip service. The first season was nice. I don't remember any of their names because I got too angry at a certain character dying. I stopped watching after that and that's pretty much all I have to say about that show. But, feel free to check it out. Please, do it. 

I've been re-watching gossip girl for a week or two. Not even going to try to explain the shenanigans that take place on that show. Just so much. Too much. Maybe some other time. 

I've been being told to catch Once Upon a Time. Will maybe get to it. Been wanting to watch The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and several other shows but I just haven't gotten around to it. Watching all of the "good shows" that are out right now is an overwhelming thought. But once I get to it, I will definitely update and give reviews. Will possibly do a full review of Orange Is The New Black later on. 

Netflix is life these days. Although there is a huge lack of good movies on there, there is an abundance of great shows you can fill up your endless boredom with. So go there. Watch all of the shows I've seen and love. Watch them all I say!