Comic Con or bust

COMIC CON!!! The inner geek in me (there's not much of a geek inside me, to be honest, so I'm grossly exaggerating my miniscule geek-dom when I say this...) really wants to go to Comic Con just to experience and live all the hype and costumes and gala and atmosphere of everything, not to mention that some amazing stars make their way to Comic Con. Can we say tVD? (I've gone a full 5 posts without any vampire mentions, I swear. I'm entitled this one!) There's lots of tVD Comic Con pics posted up at Nina Dobrev's twitter, but this photo is by far my favorite, though it's unrelated to Comic Con. Nina loves it too, and looking so gorgeous, why wouldn't she?

The pic looks like it belongs on a Seventeen cover, fun young and flirty, but at the same time, it's a super high-fashion dress and shot. That dress is gorgeous, and those booties are so high-fashion fierce, as Tyra would say. Her legs look a mile long, though I think she's only 5'6" or so. I love Nina's hair like that too; side-parted instead of in its usual center part! So sweet. On a slightly unrelated note, I love how environmentally-conscious Nina is (or maybe that's just her boyfriend Ian's influence...) - one look at her twitter @ninadobrev will show you how many environmental causes she wholeheartedly supports.

In other tVD news, Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore...) got married a couple months ago to longtime girlfriend, Torrey DeVito (Melissa Hastings of Pretty Little Liars, deranged Nanny Carrie of One Tree Hill). I actually did not know; I'm such a bad tVD fan... I've been dropping the ball a little lately, I'll admit. I think it's cute; they look good together, and here's hoping this marriage works out better for Torrey, since her on-screen husband, Ian, just got murdered by A. Talk about 'til death do us part...speaking of dramatic deaths, more on that later, so stick around and keep reading. An-y-way... COMIC CON!!! I really want to go one day, just to soak in the intensity. It's an iconic sort of event, I guess, though I don't even like comic books that much (I've read a few of the icons, but it's not something I'm too well-educated in so I can't really talk about comics much!). Here's one reason I want to go to Comic Con at least once, though, aside from all the stars walking around (K-Stew was there too, if you didn't get your Vampire fix with tVD!) - are costumes fashionable? I can't embed it, but watch this to take a look at the some of the (reportedly) best costumes seen at Comic Con 2011. Judge for yourself... Yay or Nay?

You’re watching Comic-Con 2011 - Cosplay Fans. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video

Onto more serious subject matter, #ripAmy ...yes, it's a trending Twitter and Facebook and blog topic. I don't enjoy tweeting or Facebooking, or even blogging about death, as it's not something that should be taken lightly. Amy Winehouse's early death was definitely tragic, and though I'm in no position to judge her for any of her decisions, I wish she had received, or chosen to receive some help before passing away, as no life deserves to be cut short the way hers was. I hope she's resting in peace and is in a better place, wherever she is now. It's no romantic or laughing matter that Amy had to join the ranks of the other prematurely deceased great talents, such as Princess Diana, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain... the list really goes on and on. I think there's not a whole lot more to say on the subject matter, but Kimberly Perry, of the Band Perry, had it right when she sang, "Funny when you're dead, how people start listening..." Maybe if these people received half the attention while alive that they did when dead, they wouldn't be dead in the first place, but then again, I'm nobody to speculate.

Ciao. xx

Hanna's hair

Hi guys. Um, so this post is a little off-the-fly; the idea just hit me last night when I was finally catching up on my missed TV. I'm surprised I'm even blogging right now; last night was super-intense. I went out with some girlfriends and definitely hit the bottle harder than any of us wanted me to, so that's was a great recap of College 101: Drink only as much as you can handle. Too much to drink was the worst of the bad decision making, thankfully, though I did have a face-meet-toilet meet-and-greet at the end of the night that I really wish I hadn't had. So thoroughly regretting my decisions last night, I wanted nothing more than to curl up and hit my pillow, I knew I couldn't; I'm currently visiting my grandparents, and had to be at the train station at 6.30 AM... after a fail of a clean up job (where face met toilet, of course), and after the quickest, coldest, weirdest 5AM shower I've had in such a long time, I threw random clothes in my bag (I ended up packing only one pair of shoes -the pair I wore- and one pair of jeans -that happen to have a rip in the knee- ...ridiculously poor planning. I did remember comfy sweats though, thank god.) and headed to the train station in the car... it's a miracle my mom didn't *really* catch on to anything amiss (if she did, she didn't let on.) Thank you, fate, for giving me a free not-getting-into-trouble pass for one night. I promise I'm done for a while...... a week. :P That story's not at all meant to sound bragging or like a good thing; I'm regretful, and it doesn't paint me in the best light, but it's honest. I wanted to be honest with myself and I don't owe it to anyone else to tell that story, but I felt like I needed to tell it and write it out for myself. Everyone's human and makes mistakes... definitely going to work on not making that one again.
I hope that little story's a reminder for all you ladies (and gents?) too- be careful, and know how much of the bottle you can indulge in before it's time to call it quits (and not necessarily at last call, either.)

Onto more important things, I was catching up on Pretty Little Liars last night and noticed Hanna's hair, so this is what this post is going to be about! Ashley Benson has some of the most amazing hair ever, and PLL's summer run is fabulous! I can't wait to pick up the newest book in the series: Twisted... I wonder how that'll spin off from the previously last book of the series, Wanted, which was pretty intense. (Also, I actually want to read/watch the new series The Lying Game now! Sara Shepard's pretty talented.)

I love that dress that Hanna (Ashley Benson) is wearing for the funeral scene. Only Hanna could pull off sexy at a funeral, though Emily's (Shay Mitchell) and Aria's (Lucy Hale) dresses are super pretty too. Though they all have short hemlines, I think that Spencer's (Troian Bellisario) dress is really the only choice that doesn't flatter her body shape at all. Hanna's dress might be pushing the envelope since it is a funeral, but Spencer's dress looks like it's made for a granny. That said, I love Hanna's loose curls and undone chignon. For a slightly more structured look, Hanna does something like this:
Hanna generally leaves some pieces out framing her face around her ears, which contributes to the popular "undone" look and keeps the look fresh and messy, as opposed to severe and clean. Only Spencer (Troian) out of the four liars can really pull off a severe, sharp hairstyle, in my opinion. Messy and undone buns and chignons definitely look both polished but young and sexy on not only Hanna, but everyone.


Here's a variation on the loose, undone bun/chignon ... this is more of a half-ponytail clipped up with a claw. It looks pretty on Hanna, though I'm fairly sure it wouldn't work on me. Hanna's hair has a LOT of volume and shine which makes virtually any look work for her. Her hair has versatility too; it can be curled, left wavy, or almost entirely straightened, which lets her show off a variety of hairstyles. I'm too prone to the rut of just wearing my hair loose or in a simple ponytail, and occasionally a loose bun. These hairstyles are all fairly easy to do so I wonder if I could incorporate some of them into my daily look?

I'm not especially fond of this Hanna hairstyle; the front braiding and hair pulled off her face, although cute and new, makes her look much younger than she really is (as a sidenote, I love Aria's hair in this picture. Lucy Hale is really the only other character other than Ashley Benson that experiments so much with her hair and with her look; Troian and Shay generally keep things clean and simple and easy in accordance with their characters, I guess.) It is a fresh cute look though; so if you don't mind looking a little younger than you are once in a while, making a side part and braiding the front section of your hair, flat-ironing the sides and fluffing up and curling the ends of your hair is a good way to go!
Hanna likes to have her both ways; curly and straight. Here's a side by side comparison of both! Personally I think her hair looks great both ways, and frames her face beautifully (I love her slightly round face shape. It's super cute.) I also love the combination of whites and studded leather bag that she has going on in the left photo. It's a beautiful, clean, crisp look with a timeless quality that still manages to look young and fresh. I like her hair curly too; makes her look a little like Skyler Samuels (Chloe King from the Nine Lives of Chloe King). The curls look very natural and unstructured without trying. To be honest I love the center or almost-center part on Hanna more than a side part. I really just love the variety of styles she sports on and off the show and how most of the styles are so simple but so effective that we could all be sporting them too and bringing a little variety into how our hair looks. I can't wait until my hair is longer again and I can start actually styling it again :D
That's all for now, folks! I'll keep you updated. xo

Make it Shine

It's something we should all live by, and something I have to give Rebecca Black credit for. She owns who she is -not a great singer, but trying all the same. Trying to make herself a name, be somebody big and get noticed. Not all of us can be as great as others, but as long as we are the best version of our core selves (yes, even if you are the best villain ever, if your nature happens to be villainous... though I hope it isn't.) , we should be proud of who we are. It goes hand-in-hand with never committing to things halfway, but rather committing 100% to being our best selves possible in whatever we choose to do.
Be proud of who you are, and show your best self off proudly by being a hundred percent committed to whatever you choose to do and letting yourself shine in your efforts.

Here's another cute little picture saying the same thing...

















And another. Be the best version of yourself, even if that best version isn't as good as somebody else's best version. All you can be is you, and once you accept that can you truly become everything that you always had the possibility and potential to be.
Apparently this is the 'Be proud of who you are and make your best self shine no matter what you do!' post... thematic blog posts are so cool haha. They're kind of like fun costume parties circa the '90s! The '90s parties had such good unspiked punch. '90s kids had the best lives; the kids of today are actually missing out, no matter how much technology they have (13 year olds have cell phones AND laptops, and iPods... there's no end in sight.)
That, though, is a complete tangent, but since this is a themed post, I figured I'd close it off with a video to one of my favorite inspirational, kick-in-the-pants motivational songs -I listen to this song while working out, while writing on a tight deadline, or trying to get any kind of work done. It's cheesy and cute and a hundred percent Disney, but Victoria Justice has a really good vocal range. I'm not obsessed with her (*cough*), but she's talented for a 17/18 year old, much more so than Miley Cyrus, etc. More talented than Selena Gomez, in my opinion. Victoria could do big league acting and real, non-Nick singing, in my opinion. This is one of my fave songs by her:

Not going to include an iTunes download link for this song, but Make It Shine is on iTunes. Buy it and watch it brighten up your day! :D And remember to always be proud of who you are, and always strive to shine and be the best personal version of yourself that you could be. You've already achieved more than you know, so be okay with who you are and own your personality.
*Everything negative can be spun into a positive*
Sorry if the post was a little (a lot...) redundant; I just really want everyone, especially insecure teenagers, to really let this whole post/idea hit home and I want everyone to really let this concept, being proud of yourself instead of hating yourself, into their lives. The redundancy is really bad in terms of writing, but the emotion behind this post is very real for me, so I'm going to excuse my bad writing here :P I'm trying to really learn to be proud of natural myself and let myself shine in my best version of me as well; I've spent far too long hating and critiquing myself with the mantra of not being good enough; that's got to change. Join me!
xoxo

turn the clock to zero, honey

Quick update; I'm procrastinating. I haven't actually thrown out a song-of-the-day in a little while (My Moment doesn't really count...) I really quite like this song because it's so raw and focuses on the guitar and voice alone, and not fancy recording studio sounds. This song really rings true with me right now and captures so well what I've been thinking about and going through lately, but before I give you the video commentary and video, three things:
#1: Next post is going to veer off into a slightly unexpected direction... fair warning
#2: I've recently started noticing actress Jacqueline Pinol, so I'm going to talk about her briefly in the next post before I veer off into the aforementioned unexpected direction.
#3: I'm going to change the background of this blog soon, just as soon as I find an image/layout that I really like. I'm thinking it's time for a change, though I love this layout.

I love Aly Michalka's voice. It's so powerful. She's come such a long way from her 'Phil of the Future' days (Yes, I'm a child at heart. Deal.) ...I really hope Hellcats returns to the screen this fall, though there were rumors about canceling the show after only one season :S
You really get to hear her voice in this song, and it's not covered up by heavy guitar or drumming or recording studio shtick; just mellifluous background acoustics and background singers. It's sing-able, too... easy singing notes to hit.
This is not the actual footage of the show; it's the iTunes HQ version, but I will include the Hellcat live version too. There's something even more genuine and powerful about that version; live, raw music from the heart has its own charm that no HQ version can replace.
The original Sting version of this song is actually really good too! It's classic rock; go listen. Now. <3


Here's the live version from the show. "How could it be that what you need the most can leave you feelin' just like a ghost; you never want to feel so sad and lost again..." I notice I talk a lot about love in this post... unintentional. But love or lack of it is quite the catalyst to the world's rotation.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LIVE VERSION. I can't embed; the embed feature for this video has been disabled upon request of the original contributor on YouTube.

oh, i don't think i can be anything other than me

Pamela Anderson designing and posing in "couture" stockings? I'm not surprised about the latter, but the stockings themselves look like the same ones I could get at Topshop to me. Now I really have seen it all.
I have to say I do love those pumps. They look a little like a pair of 4 1/2 inch heel black suedette closed-toe pumps I got from Forever 21... forever ago. They're not particularly comfy, but they are cute, and awesome for dressed-up occasions!
I admit that I do really like the sheer, lace-top stockings to the left. They look cute, girlie, and would be great contrast under LBDs, or LWDs for a demure look. The sheer looks well done and non-fake; the bare-legs-but-not look was all the rage at one point... possibly making a comeback? Black crazy-patterned stockings are more popular these days. The better question is what you think of the advertising of these "couture" stockings. X-rated, for sure... I don't know if that's a great way to market to all demographics, or any demographic outside of the 16-26 year old range. I think the middle photo (not included for ratings' sake, and viewer discretion is advised...) HERE might actually offend a whole lot of people, especially religious people. Hmm.
Here's where my life's been at, the past couple of days- I've been thinking A LOT about this, and missing people that I maybe shouldn't miss. Maybe not having them in my life is actually not such a bad thing, but I shouldn't try to control the situation. I should let things be and change as they want to and just go with the flow of the friendship as it changes. So.... here's what my life's been revolving around!
In my present, I love college and definitely don't remember High School as better than it really was, but I do remember a lot of my past friendships/relationships/connections as better than they really were, and I tend to see the present absence of these old connections as a bad thing. Truth is, I'm seeing the present as worse than it really is, and these connections probably aren't in my life for a good reason, so it's actually a good thing.... I still don't believe in letting people just go, though. Some people are only meant to stay in your life for a short while, but I don't leave things entirely up to fate; you have to control your own destiny to some extent. Fate controls who walks into your life; you choose who walks out of it... sometimes it's better to let people go/walk away, especially if they want to, and other times, it's better to hold on to people rather than letting them walk away because its the "only option" or "right choice". Staying with someone is harder than leaving, and it's more rewarding to pick the tougher path sometimes. And don't try leaving before you get hurt- tried it, doesn't work. Until next time.

"if you don't leave yourself open to being hurt, you'll never be open to being happy."

how to deal with an unfree world

Quote of the day might become a regular feature, like the song of the day is. Keep an eye out for this! I absolutely love "stumbling"... it's great for procrastinating, for cheering myself up, for a little laugh at the end of a long day. It's a great icebreaker; I find things on stumbleupon all the time that I want to share with friends, and the very act gets a conversation going. Stumbleupon has to be one of the best inventions ever... since sliced bread, even. (I've always wondered about that saying. Why does every new awesome thing get compared to sliced bread? Was directing the action movie, "Bread meets Knife" really the greatest thing the world ever accomplished?) Here's a little something that rings very true for me, and yet leaves me thinking about myself and life, and even makes me laugh just a little. Words have power; the power to manipulate emotions, change lives, change people and change the world, and that's why the idea that love, not war can change the world that's crumbling. I hope you guys like this quote too, though. Albert Camus is an inspired man.
It raises an interesting question about conformity. To what extent should we rebel, be our primal selves, and be free, versus to what extent should we conform to society and its expectations in the name of coexistence, co-dependence and harmony? Should we partially stand out and be ourselves within boundaries -is this the middle ground? I hate to personally do things halfway, but I see that as the only middle ground between two extremes: being yourself to such an extent that you're entirely nonconformist -barely cool enough to breathe. The other extreme, of course, is blindly following society and expectations like a sheep. Neither extreme is one I really like, though if I had to pick an extreme to follow, I'd pick the first. Better an isolated outcast than a sheep any day. For now I suppose we attempt to stand out and be rebellious with cause, questioning of the system, but within limits; we question and push against the system without entirely shunning the system. We neither entirely accept nor entirely reject the system. We both accept and reject the system of society in a sort of middle ground - begrudging, questioning acceptance, even. Until the world comes up with another solution, this balance between conformity and rebellion/freedom will have to hold.

This one's cute (and true) too! Make your work your art and you'll be truly satisfied. I like the way it's actually a creative kind of tapestry and looks as cool and unique as it sounds (actually the saying isn't unique at all, but the presentation sure is. I love that the aesthetics really complement the quote.) Go ahead, lose (typo!) your fear of being wrong and get to living your creative life to its fullest potential! I'm still working on letting loose of my control issues and my fear of being wrong in front of others too (I don't mind being wrong in private; I enjoy the learning experience of being wrong in private).
xo

One moment

While this is a blog about positivity and letting your best inner self shine through, we have to face the fact that we wouldn't have anything good or positive without the bad and negative. I hate to call anyone talented, but not EVERYONE is Hollywood material; generally, people are either born with the talent or they're not; no amount of effort or autotune can replicate an actual innate ability to sing. Speaking of the untalented, apparently Rebecca Black's one hit "wonder", Friday, has spawned an unrelated sequel: My Moment, although I personally think Rebecca Black's moment/fifteen seconds of fame either ended with the parodies of Friday, or Rebecca Black will always be known notoriously for being even worse than Justin Bieber (and even the Biebs can sing and dance - he has real talent. His only fault is that he sounds like a girl. Rebecca Black just sounds awful -please YouTube 'Friday' if you've been living underneath a rock or are Amish ... although I have no idea what you're doing reading my blog post if you're either of the two.). However, I have to give Rebecca SOME credit; she looks prettier in this video than she did in Friday's music video, the choreography of My Moment is actually fairly good (Rebecca Black had absolutely no hand in that of course), the lyrics are forgettable, repetitive, cliche and uninspired, but at least they aren't deathly annoying (ditto - Rebecca Black didn't write them). You also have to give Rebecca Black credit for trying to follow her dreams, even if she should quit while she's still relatively ahead, since she doesn't have the talent to back up her dream. Props to her for making an effort to go after what she wanted, though, instead of letting life pass her by. I still think she should spare the sanity of the rest of the world, and find a dream that she can actually be good at. All this means is that she now has a better team working with her, not that she's acquired any real talent since Friday came out. So at the end of the day, Rebecca's popularity miiiight go up A LITTLE, just because you have to admit that the music video is much better than Friday's music video, and the song is slightly, slightly better than Friday was (actually Friday was SO annoying; this is much better by comparison. At least this is forgettable; I still can't get Friday out of my head at times.... so bad it's good situation.) And you have to admit that Rebecca Black's grown up a little since Friday and become a little prettier. Her hair doesn't look as lifeless and annoying... and the beginning of the song is decent. Nothing special, but decent. Her voice is better too; softer and less harsh/annoying/autotuned/forced.
As much as we try not to, everyone makes judgments about others, so take a look and judge for yourself:

No iTunes link for this; the biggest compliment I can give this entire production effort is that it's not annoying and it's boring but not bad. It's like bland food -harmless, somewhat good tasting, but unwanted. As un-annoying as it might be, nobody should actually pay a dollar for this.
I also sincerely apologize for the overuse of the word "annoying" in this post!

[Delete]

Hey guys! I have to admit that I've been bored lately, and unwilling to actually open up my sociology textbook so I can study it before the semester starts. I've just been wanting to get more involved with the world lately, and now's a great time to take up causes too, since I'm not doing a whole lot else. I don't want to spread myself too thin though, so this is going to be the last cause I talk about for a while.
This effort is an easy one, actually. It's anti-bullying, and I know a lot of us have already grown up and passed that stage where bullying is so prevalent in our lives. Bullying is very junior high, in a lot of ways, and bullies grow out of their habits by college, generally speaking. But even if you aren't in junior high anymore, you can still support the cause and help spread the word -somebody somewhere is still being bullied, even if you aren't. In fact, a lot of people are being bullied right this very second, and you have the power to change that, so don't waste your moment to act like a little superhero :)

All you need to do is hit delete! The next time you get into a fight with someone over the web, and feel like stooping to low blows, don't. The next time you want to play a little joke on the unpopular classmate on Facebook, don't. Hit delete instead; holding your tongue might be the first step in reducing the number of suicides that occur every year due to internet-propagated bullying and online violence. You never know which word will drive someone to desperation. The world is already so chaotic that we don't need to create any more drama for each other, so take the first step in being a better person and DELETE DIGITAL DRAMA!

Join the Facebook movement right HERE.
Add THIS badge to your profile picture on Facebook OR Twitter to show your support!
HERE is what Emily Osment has to say about the understated issue of cyberbullying and digital drama.
If the cute virtual button didn't convince you to commit to the cause, there's more! You can fight cyberbullying and digital drama with fashion! Head on over to your nearest Charlotte Russe store and pick up your own Delete Digital Drama T-shirt, just like the stars of ABC Family are sporting HERE. See what the stars of some of the hottest summer TV shows have to say about their own experiences with bullying while you're there!

Bullying is hurtful, and wrong, but cyberbullying is so much worse than in-person bullying, in some ways. Cyberbulling allows for a certain anonymity, and bullies end up bullying an image or a profile without ever considering the consequences of their words for the very real person behind that online profile. Real bullying is more painful in some ways, because bullies DO get to see and consider the feelings of the real victim, but still bully anyway. But at least real bullying takes strength. Cyberbullying is for cowards, because they need that anonymity that the computer screen provides, and they aren't bold enough to bully outside of that. A great rule to consider: if you're not bold enough to say it to a person's face, don't say it through your status or to their profile. If you are bold enough to say it to a person's face and physically bully them for real, then you need real help in stopping, because that's wrong too. But let's start one step at a time; stopping cyberbullying might decrease physical bullying, so with cyberbullying the rule of thumb:

I kind of feel like making t-shirts or tanks with the saying, "Say it to my face, not through your status" and distributing them or auctioning them on eBay to raise money for awareness or something. Hell, I'd give them away for free JUST to raise awareness, or at the very least, I'd like to start something by making a t-shirt for just myself. It's a cool way to advertise the message and spread the antibullying love.

In some form or other, at one time or another, we've all been bullied or picked on, some more than others. See yourself in other victims, and fight back for them when they can't; show your support and encourage victims to speak out against their tormentors. Karma will thank you one day anyway. :)

On another note... is it just me, or is the new movie, Monte Carlo an entire rip-off of the Lizzie McGuire movie? >.> No contest between actresses either; Hilary Duff was as cute back then as Selena Gomez is now. Watching Leighton Meester in her first movie since Country Strong, and Katie Cassidy in something outside of Gossip Girl, should be fun. (Yes, I'm guilty of being a huuuge Leighton Marissa Meester fan... Marissa's one of my favorite names too haha.)
Peace, not bullying. The campaign against war starts at school by being against bullying. Show your support! xx

friends with benefits is like communism; good in theory, fails in execution.

The above is a quote by Mila Kunis, referring to her movie, Friends With Benefits, that premieres next week. I'm actually really excited to see this movie; I think Mila is a talented actress, and I won't complain about Justin Timberlake filling up screen time with his hotness. Hopefully this is better than 'No Strings Attached', too!
I have two more pieces of randomness to throw out before the scheduled post.
Randomness #1: I'm irrationally obsessed with the song "Superbass" by Nicki Minaj right now; I don't know why. It's not even a new song, but I just love this song as much as my-my-my-my-pelican-fly. :P It's on repeat, and I'll occasionally rotate between Skyscraper (Demi Lovato), When I Make It Shine (Victoria Justice), and Just Tonight (Pretty Reckless). I'm in productivity mode; it's my motivation playlist :P
Randomness #2: I think the legal system is pretty messed up in America. Corrupt and based on too many technicalities rather than actual justice. I was thinking about Casey Anthony's court trial earlier. I don't have much to say about it, since the media's already covered it to death, but it's just sad how skewed the legal system really is, despite the fact that the legal system is supposed to be the moral foundation of America. The system actually enables criminals, in so many ways. Random, slightly related fun fact: The solving of cases in America actually (reportedly) dropped after the first four or five seasons of CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), because the show allegedly educates criminals about police and crime lab procedures, and how to not get caught. True or not, it's something to think about... and parents say that TV isn't educational :P On another note, I love Sara Sidle at the moment, from the original CSI -I've taken a break from CSI New York and actually started watching the original. It's good.

And now.... I'm actually going to write a blog post about my dream room, with pictures and everything! I was thinking about sophomore year dorm room decoration, and obviously price/availability/physical ability to carry things prevents me from truly building my dream dorm room. So I want to build my dream dorm virtually, with pictures and links to actual furniture and wall decor that I've found online (a lot of it at Urban Outfitters, actually, which tends to be pricey, to be honest), and I'll try to put a finished picture together over at polyvore! It should just be a fun little summer project, and maybe it'll give you readers some ideas as well, for your own dorm rooms/bedrooms/whatever space you currently occupy. Stay tuned; ideas and pictures coming soon!

#15hoursbatt

Hey! There are SO many ways to get involved in so many different causes, projects and foundations, especially just by blogging, facebooking and tweeting! Wouldn't it be so cool if you had a new laptop to do all that typing on? Now, you have the chance to win a new candy pink Sony VAIO S Series laptop with a 15-HOUR BATTERY LIFE. Just head on over to the Windows blog, and tell the world what YOU would do with 15 hours of battery! If you would go someplace super cool with your new laptop, you can even include a photo of the location in your blog comment for a creativity bonus. You can also tweet about it to @Windows, with #15hoursbatt in your tweet! If you want a new laptop, or a new sheet battery, get to commenting and tweeting right away, because this offer ends on 17th July, at 7 PM Pacific Standard Time.

On a tangent, who's seen the epic awesomeness that was the last Harry Potter movie?!

LOVE IS LOUDER

Okay, guys. Here's the post that I promised was coming!
The "Love Is Louder" campaign was co-founded by the Jed Foundation, MTV and Brittany Snow in September 2010, and has already garnered support, publicity and endorsement from millions of people worldwide, including notable names like Seventeen Magazine, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus and Victoria Justice, among others. However, what the whole concept behind Love Is Louder really relies on, is the love and support of thousands of people, girls, boys, young, old; this campaign is geared towards anyone who's ever put themselves down, or felt inadequate. This campaign gives you the strength you need as individuals to feel loved, and know that the love you have from yourself and others is much stronger than any other negativity you might be hearing. The theme of the campaign is that LOVE is louder than the pressure to be perfect, louder than the voice inside your head saying you're not good enough, louder than the critics, louder than the haters, louder than your demons, louder than the pain, louder than anger, louder than obstacles, louder than the word "can't", and louder than anything else you might have to face or go through in life that knocks you and your self-esteem down. No matter what struggles you face as an individual, Love Is Louder Than The Pressure To Be Perfect seeks to remind you that you are not alone, and that there are others sharing in your struggles, AND sharing the experience of trying to overcome that struggle, too. Love Is Louder relies on the support of the public, of readers like you, to join the foundation and to support the cause in any way you can. The more voices that join the love, the louder it can be, so add your voice to the cause and help show, through sheer power in numbers, that love is louder than any and all negativity. This campaign gave you the love you needed, and showed you that you had the ability to love yourself instead of hating yourself; now give back to the campaign by giving your love to others who need it!
Getting involved is really easy; it all starts with a click!
Show your support by tweeting with #loveislouder
Throw your love directly into the twitterverse by writing on LoveIsLouder's page!
If you're more of a Facebook addict, join LoveIsLouder's page, and write on their wall - tell the world what love is louder than!
If you want to learn a little more about the cause before you commit to a click, head over to the official Love Is Louder page. If you need a little more incentive to help out, check out this super-cute gear over at the store.
If you want to hear a little more about what Demi Lovato has to say about Love Is Louder, and her personal struggles that caused her to write such an amazing, inspirational song in Skyscraper, check out this collaboration between Seventeen Magazine and Demi Lovato on the LoveIsLouder project!
You guys can even upload your own videos, 15 seconds or less in length, to the official Love Is Louder page (http://www.loveislouder.com),showing your support for the cause and what it means to you personally. It's a chance for you to get creative, and also a chance to check out some of the other videos while you're there!
Likewise, post a picture of your hands with a message of love written on them, either to the Facebook page, or to the official website. A picture is worth more than a thousand words of negativity, so let's get those positive thoughts out there, strong, loud and proud! Get started by checking some of these other pics on the website for inspiration!
This is a cause that personally means a lot to me, so I'm going to do everything that I can to support this cause and help take it to new heights. This is a cause that could potentially relate to absolutely anyone on the planet, irrespective of gender, age, race, socioeconomic background, or anything else. Nobody should feel like they aren't worth anything or aren't good enough; nobody should be hurting themselves. Be a part of spreading a little more LOVE throughout our world and please help out however you can!

LOVE IS LOUDER THAN... THE PRESSURE TO BE PERFECT

I love this song. It's corny, it's cheesy, it's another pop song about self-esteem and positivity and all that, but it's also the most honest, raw, genuine, personal pop song about self-esteem and positivity that I've heard yet. It feels true to itself, genuine, and very personal, rather than contrived and manufactured to appeal to the insecure audience so that it can sell copies. This song feels intended for the artist, as a catharsis more than anything, rather than to sell; and that's why it feels so intensely raw and genuine. I guess the lyrics could have been more original, but it's still beautiful in the most haunting way -ordinary lyrics made extraordinary because of the way they're sung. It's also just really nice to see Demi back on her feet. You may not love her, or really even like her music, but she's human, and it's always amazing to see another human being overcome so many struggles to get back on their feet again. Even if she's not your favorite actress, it's hard not to admire her strength and sheer willpower to get herself back on a healthier, stronger path rather than succumbing to her own demons and darkness and making excuses for those demons manifesting themselves in unhealthy habits. She's amazing for even wanting to get better, and even more amazing for actually following through with her intention and getting help and getting better. She's leading by example, exhibiting the kind of strength I wish more people had, myself included. This blog is supposed to be about positivity, and about strength, and about embracing the glass as half full and life as beautiful, even when you're down and things might not be so great. Demi understands what it means to be a beautiful person, inside and out, by not letting the little things hold her back, and by not allowing herself to get in her own way. Despite her haters calling her out for having so many issues, Demi knows that it's human to have problems, but overcoming them is what shows true strength, and she keeps on trying to inspire and teach everyday, choosing to focus on the love that she gets, rather than her haters. Leave some support if you can at ddlovato, her official twitter!
Also, here's the video, artful and super simplistic. It's visually a little like Selena's A Year Without Rain, I'm not sure if that's a coincidence... the song and music and video are all just so much more mature and genuine and beautiful, though. See for yourself!


I don't think I need to include an iTunes link to this; 'Skyscraper; is trending at #1 on the iTunes top singles chart!
More on the campaign that Demi started, 'LOVE IS LOUDER THAN... THE PRESSURE TO BE PERFECT', in the next post. Stay tuned!

it's all because of you.

Blogging from India, where I grew up :)
I'm actually super tired, slightly jet-lagged, and I did a whole lot of thinking about wrongs and rights when it comes to the heart, and about forgiveness and second chances over both of my flights, which were 8 hours each. I don't want to make this post toooo long, due to the first two, but... Firstly, I realized that forgiveness and second chances have nothing to do with the other person,and everything to do with the person that's been hurt. In order for me to forgive someone, I need to be able to work through MY trust issues; no matter how much the other person tries to earn back my trust, or a second chance, they won't be able to regain my trust unless I give it to them. Giving trust again is something I personally need to work on; I feel like I blame others for being untrustworthy, and I make the other person demonstrate their trustworthiness to me, even though no matter how trustworthy they try to be, I'm just not ready to give out my trust again, plain and simple. In reality, everybody makes mistakes and even breaks trust from time to time. Everyone deserves second chances once in a while; I just need to learn to give them a little more easily.
Secondly, I'm disappointed by the ending of the book "Something Borrowed"; I wish the ending had been more powerful. It didn't seem real, somehow. It felt like a cliched, watered-down "happy-ever-after"; I think that if a story is going to have a happy-ever-after ending, it should at least be strong and dramatic and thought-provoking. It's my belief that if a writer is going to commit to something, drama, plot device, character, etc, then they should commit to it fully, not halfheartedly.
Thirdly, I listened to a lot of music over my flight time, and I thought I'd share a song. I love it because it's unapologetic, it's raw, it's real, it's genuine, it's honest, and in no way are the lyrics fake or pretentious. The sound is grunge-y rock, underground raw, it's an honest sound, full of guitar and drum sequences, and the vocals are super powerful. There's no autotune going no, and it's not the formulaic synth-pop. The song might not be super popular, but it's not trying to be anything other than a song; it's not trying to be a cash cow and sell. Nothing is worse than a song that is so obviously a cash cow. The only thing worse may be a legitimately good song (good lyrics, decent sound) that's been autotuned to death in an effort to follow the rap-pop sheep of music and in a misguided effort to sell. Autotuned pop sells to tweens; real, raw music sells to true music lovers. REAL, RAW, GENUINE are honestly the best words to describe both the lyrics and the sound. It's a little bit of old-rock, too, which I personally love. It's a cool little mix of both the old world and the new. I guess if I had to critique the album as a whole, I'd say maybe it's trying too hard to be cool, trying to hard to pull off an "I-don't-care-but-it's-so-obvious-that-I-do-care" attitude, but this song in particular is classic, amazing and faultless, in my opinion. It's a bit of a throwback to Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Phil Collins, even a little Beatles, especially solo Lennon. Classics.
Anyway, sorry if I come off as a little judgmental up above; I generally try not to be so judgmental, but if I feel passionately enough about something, I voice my opinion honestly, respectfully (as I tried to be, up above), but I don't censor my opinion. Here you go! I promise you the studio version sounds exactly the same as this live version; that's how genuine, raw and un-autotuned this song is. Taylor's unapologetic, self-serving, but still caring lifestyle is kind of awesome too. She's got balls.

Will definitely update the post below this, and another post super-soon. I'm in India for a while, just chilling and not doing a whole lot, so I'll have time. I'll stop being lazy for real this time. peace.

life's too short to be mourned; own yours and make it count even if it sucks.

Hi! I've noticed that my blog posts are getting a bit rambly, lately, and that's not cool. If people are anything like me, they'll get bored of the rambling, or the incredible amounts of text will just fail to hold people's attention, and they'll stop reading, even if they like the content. I apologize for the last post, it was, to be honest, emotional blog-vomit, and I was just venting about personal issues, which is something I generally stay away from in this blog. It's not supposed to be talking about negative personal issues, it's supposed to be a journey into the beautiful things that life has to offer. However, I grew a lot in the last post, in an emotional sense, and hopefully, the sense of heartbreak of the last post will help some other readers grow and lift something positive from the experience too. Life jades people and makes them cynics, me included, and it makes them unwilling to put themselves and their hearts out into the hands of chance. I believe that it's okay to be cautious, but it's still important to take the time to heal, and then love with abandon once again, no matter how many times you get hurt, because if you hold back your heart in the fear of getting it broken, the only thing you're really holding back is yourself. You just won't be able to live to your fullest if you get hurt. Better to live and get hurt than to not live at all, as they say... you only have one chance at life, so make it really count, no matter how many battle scars you endure in the process - if they didn't kill you, they'll make you stronger! (Which is something very hard to believe when you're heartbroken, but it DOES get better, I promise, and you will think yourself when you take a chance someday on someone new and it finally pays off. One hundred chances may be meant to fail, but you have to go through them all before you encounter the one chance that's meant to succeed.)
Enough with the euphamisms, however... here's a breakup oriented song of the day! And I will definitely get back to the regular posts, and stop using songs as filler posts; I've just been super busy lately. This song is one of my eternal favorites though (just coinicidence that it was played in the Founders Day episode of tVD... I actually didn't remember that. I've loved this song since before the episode aired.) Regardless, here's the video with the lyrics; there's no official out for this song. I hope you guys like the music!
As always, buy it on iTunes.