The New Blogger/Update

Google has stepped it up yet again. As a Google Plus user, who is just waiting for the networking site to become the next big thing so that I can delete my Facebook, I love the new look of Google Plus, which has translated to the New Blogger. Not only does it make me want to write more, but the minimalistic setting is not just beautiful but functional. It reminds me of WordPress, which I tried and didn't like and now it is like I'm using a completely different publishing website. I think Blogger just grew up and that is a wonderful feeling.

I have been neglecting my blog, which isn't really professional for me to say, but I have been trying to get ready for going back to school. It is extremely stressful, as I am in an apartment this year and have no idea what to expect and after hearing the horror stories about roommates, and lucking out with two of them; I really hope my luck has not run out.

Google has really been pulling out all the stops lately; with their Chromebooks rolling out, and the new plus button, which has literally popped up everywhere, see post: Google's +1 Button. I'm happy that this company sees that even though they are successful; they can still see room for improvement.

Movie Recommendation of the Week: Wild Target

If you are looking to feel good, and giggle wildly, then this movie is for you. It is very English in that the people that are meant to be together in the film are an young woman and a much older man, but as English films go, it was quite good. What is odd is how good Rupert Grint is. As you well know, since he was about nine, he has been Ron Weasley to the world, and it was refreshing to see him in a suit; which by the way looks amazing on him. I think that unlike many child actors; he is going to come out alright. It was a promising role; he was still a little Ron Weasley but he was a pot smoking, gun toting Ron Weasley.  As for Emily Blunt, there is no critique; she did everything beautifully. I hated the character at first but you get over it. 

The older man did such great work; he was very subtle; like when Tony, played by Rupert Grint brings in a cat, for a second, he fusses over the cat and reaches out to pet it, but then he quickly recoils. That moment really made the movie for me, even though it was so insignificant; it made me see that he was human and that he was kind, because there is that myth about people who like animals being pleasant. I found myself sad that it ended, but seeing the ending coming. It’s not a new theory, nor a new idea, but the way that they go about doing it, makes it special. If anything, there was a charm and a wit; something that made you think that an assassin was lovable. 

The ending was somewhat weird, but I suppose it is something that can’t be avoided. The French was a charming touch to bridge the gap, especially because it was a English adaptation of a French film. So many adaptation just forget the original all together and mess it all up. The way the film started felt more like a homage, or a show of respect to the other film. 

I highly recommend it, not only if you want to past time, but if you also want to have fun during that 90 minute period.

Siblings

There has always been this thing; this myth, if you will, that when siblings grow up, they get along better. The reason they say that, is because at some point, they move out of the house that they grew up in. However, in my case, that didn’t happen. I moved out to go to college, and sometimes come home for the occasional weekend or holiday. However, my brother never left, so whenever I come home, there he is, and usually I am not met with a smile. 

So why can’t we get along? The same reason siblings that share a bathroom don’t, because there is sharing involved. For the second time, after growing up, the attention of the parents must be shared, instead the focused attentiveness that one would get as if they were the only child in the house. It’s the attention that makes the siblings get along when they are older. When we were fighting over a toy, or fighting with words, we were really fighting over is the parents’ attention, we gauge who they love the most by who they are easiest on when they are punishing us both. 

My whole thing was that I wanted to be heard, and with my brother around, that doesn’t happen. With his constant interruptions, his insistence that he is right even though I have facts to back up my argument, trying to get out what I need to say is next to impossible without him yelling me, or my mother shaming me. So why try to communicate? Why talk at all? Because every once and while, they take what I want into account; they listen to me. At that moment, it’s all worth it. 

Family Vacations

I don't think that families were ever meant to spend a whole bunch of time together. If one starts the tradition of vacationing together on a set time line, like every year or every other year, then the family can reasonably insist on quality time together. However, if you are anything like my family, where the trips are sporadic or nonexistent and life has persistently given to situations which fling the family's members in all different directions, you cannot expect to fling those members together. Nevertheless, here we are, expected to get along with gleaming bright faces, without revealing the major flaws and lies that they tell to those who they want to impress, or those who they don’t want to disappoint. 

We are supposed to play along and make concessions. Stand back while brothers lie to relatives so that the parents don’t look like they did a bad job, and they didn’t but that is what people think when a child is doing nothing with their life. So what do you do when you and your family don’t get along and have nothing in common? Nothing. Try to keep your mouth shut when they recall facts that aren’t true and memories that never happened. I wish someone had told me these things before I went on this trip. 

So there it is, advice from someone who wishes someone would have told her this. Perhaps when you go on your family vacation, you will heed my advice and you may have a good time. But then again, it all depends on your family.