Hipsy's View: The Revenant

     This is the first movie I have watched in theaters for 2016. I know that it is a 2015 movie, but since it was released towards the end of the year, it technically falls under the 2016 movie register for me.

SPOILER ALERT: Though I may not be writing out the movie for you, there are some plot points that I will mention that you may not want to know about. If you have not seen the movie I am about to review, either stop reading now or proceed with caution, knowing that some sub-plots will be discussed.

     The Revenant for me was awe-inspiring. All I could say after seeing it was that it was an art film. Some may think I am strange for stating this, but once it is seen, it's hard not to notice how much work was put into it. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the main character, the story follows the journey frontiersman Hugh Glass must face after being mauled by a grizzly bear and left for dead in a partially-dug grave. The only thing that is pushing him forward throughout his journey is to seek his son's murderer and get his revenge. Interestingly, Glass's story is not the only one seen in the movie. The viewer, of course, follows Glass's journey (and sees his memories), but also follows the journeys of the group of tradesmen that he worked with, the man that left him for dead (Tom Hardy's character), a Pawnee who lost his tribe, and search party of revengeful Ree*. Though all different sub-plots, the stories all tie in together perfectly to show the difficulties of how to survive in the dead of winter in the wilderness - with or without a weapon - and the struggles one faced during the 1830s after the Louisiana Purchase.

      When watching the film, I was mesmerized by the imagery; the nature scenes are deeply rooted within this film. Think of a nature documentary's scenic views, and you will understand why I was awed by its beauty. But that's only part of what made this movie a piece of art. It was raw, in my opinion. The splatters of blood and water and snow and the fog from the actors' exhalations on the camera were used to express intensity in the fight scenes and lead into memory or vision scenes. There was not much dialect with DiCaprio's scenes - though there was a good reason for that, of course - and it wasn't needed. A good example for this was the snowflake-catching scene between Glass and the (last) Pawnee; no words were needed to understand this scene.

     Conflicts were also deeply rooted with the film, specifically Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Man, and Man vs. Self. Throughout the film, the viewer sees the struggle the frontiersmen face in order to make a living in the wild, including fighting off dangerous animals, fighting (or fleeing) from attackers, and the struggle to survive through winter storms. Glass is certainly the center of most of the stories and faces the most, but he also faces the journey to find himself now that all he had is gone.

     The final thing that made me think of this film as an art piece was sound; that's one of the things relied on throughout the movie. Like Glass, the viewer must only rely on what he has to survive: the sounds around him and his instincts. The film makes the viewer feel what the character feels. The only time I have felt this is when I am reading a book or I am looking at a piece of art (be it a painting, sculpture, or a photograph). How this film was not shown at the Cannes Festival baffles me.

     So, if you stayed and read through the review, you can probably tell that I liked this movie. It is very deep, and makes the viewer strongly emotional and somehow connected to the film. It leaves the viewer thinking, and is hard to erase from the memory. First movie of the year for me gets a five out of five and ten out of ten review from me. Hope you enjoyed the read. Until next time, keep watching, reading, and whatever else that you enjoy.

*Ree are a tribe of Native Americans from North Dakota.

Something New

So, I am now in a new chapter in my life. Last semester here at ASU made me feel like my head was about to explode. It was so stressful that I actually kept a worry stone in my hand throughout almost the whole semester. But even though it was a tough semester, as you can tell, I survived it. In fact, some good things came out from it. I am now part of the English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta and I am a trainee for an online literary magazine (which will hopefully lead me into an internship and a future career). Though I cannot promise this, I am going to try to use this blog how I originally meant to, by giving my reviews on the arts and things that interest me, mostly on literacy. Some of the work I will review/critique will be the works I will be reading this semester and whatever I can read or attend during my free time.

So, hello again everyone; I'm back on my blog, and I hope to keep up on writing on this blog.

Looking Back at my Blog

I will be surprised if any of you still read my blog; it has been a full year since I posted anything on it. When I first started this blog, I wanted it to be like a critic's view on media that interested me (just like other bloggers do). I was a girl that wanted to be known for her writings and reviews, possibly earn some money while writing about things she loved. There came a time while writing my blogs that I entered a state of depression. I was starting to realize that I was a lonely person that still lived in her old town with no friends except the ones on the computer. Sure, I had old friends that would visit our home and school towns, and I could have easily picked up a phone and called some of them, but I was becoming so depressed that I didn't want to talk to anyone. I lived with my parents and I still felt like I was becoming a ghost in my own home. During that time, I lost a pet that I grew deeply attached to during it's short life. I'm in a better place now, but I look back at some of my poems and short stories during that time, and I can't believe it was me that wrote such dark stuff. Depression was taking over my life. It wasn't until early 2012 that I had an old friend break down my dark and lonely walls and made me feel like I was a person again and that I meant more to someone else (either than my parents) and that I could do anything in the world. He has made my life complete. Three years down the road, and he still makes me feel like I can do anything I want to do. Some of you may think this is gushy or lame, but once you have someone there for you that stands by you, even at your worst times, and pulls you out of your depression and makes you happy, you will feel and think what I do: he saved me.

Now I make a lot of excuses for things. Hell, I read some of my blogs. I know I told you I would write more if I find the time, or if I get this or that done. The truth is I don't write reviews/blogs much anymore because I found things that keep me busy now. I work at a job that I like, but I am exhausted usually by the end of the day that I just want to relax. When I'm not at work, I'm cleaning my apartment, or running errands. I'm a college student (again!) and during the semesters, I'm constantly reading and writing. Sure, I could be reviewing and writing during the summer break. I could be finishing up my book that I've said I'm almost done with for four years now (literally just a few chapters and an epilogue to write). I could be posting more a Capella videos up on my Youtube channel. But right now, I am content on what I do now in my life:

• I read 3-5 books simultaneously
• I work almost every day of the week to earn my share of the rent 
• I clean my home when I'm not exhausted.
• I love every single minute I'm with my sweetheart
• I tell myself I need to practice my Spanish, yet I talk to my Spanish-speaking customers all the time
• I take care of a pet I never thought I would love having (a snake!)
• I'm loving my life and where I'm at right now.

Like I stated before, and this goes to anyone that's reading this, you might think this is lame, but I love it. I am content with where my life's at and wouldn't have it any other way. If I write on my blog, it will be because I want to and when I feel like it. It could be tomorrow, a month, or even eight months from now that I write on this blog, but it will be when I want to when I think I have the time.

This blog is basically now just a random blog of a person's thoughts :).

Why I want to be a Writer

Note: I wrote mainly for a class discussion that was assigned to me a few weeks ago. I thought others would like to know my reasons for wanting to be writer, so I'm sharing this with you all. If you have dreams, try for them, and don't let other tell you any different.

Why I want to be a Writer

When I was asked the question what I wanted to be when I became an adult, I said I wanted to be a singer. By the time I was in Jr. High, I said I wanted to be a crime scene investigator. Towards the end of my high school education, writing was a great idea but history was my passion at the time; I decided to become a museum creator. By the time I got my associate’s degree, I had changed my major from history to journalism, and to finally English. Looking at the changes, one would think I either couldn’t make up mind or I was someone who could do almost anything I put my mind to. Thinking about it now, I think the only thing I wanted to do when I grew was do something extraordinary or make a great impression on the world that everyone would remember. I believe my writings will do that someday.

I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer until I was a senior year in high school, when I first started writing my idea for a novel (which led to the idea of making it into a trilogy someday). The first story I can remember truly writing out of pure and raw imagination was when I was in second grade, about a parrot who said accuse me when he sneezed. I hadn’t thought about that story in years until recently. By the time I was in sixth grade, I started writing poetry – that wasn’t a school assignment – and noticed I had potential for something I used to despise. By eighth grade, I wrote two short stories for two assignments, and I had gotten my first taste of approval and praise for my works from others. After that, I was  hooked, and I’ve been writing since. Since then, I have written and finished three short stories, I have many ideas for several books, and I am in the process of finishing my first book that I started writing when I was a freshman in college.

Growing up, I was so focused on wanting to be a singer or what others wanted me to be. When I finally took a stand to those who said my dreams were only dreams, I noticed I still wanted to be known for greatness. Yes, anyone can write book, sing a song, or act in a movie or on a stage, but I also noticed there something that made my writings unique and different from others. I can be my true self as a writer. Writing makes me happy, and it’s also a way to let my thoughts run wild. And since I am going into an English degree, I decided after I got my Associates of Arts that I would someday like to be either an editor or publisher, or work as a literature historian. Anything involving books and writing have been a great passion of mine, just as much as singing has been. But I am not putting this dream to the side. Despite what others have said in the past, I will become a writer, and someday, maybe, my writings will be so renowned and different that they will be put in student textbooks and I will be on the Bestsellers list. Anything is possible, especially my hopes of being a writer.

I am still here!

Hello followers,

 I can't believe it has been almost two years since I have written on this blog. A lot of things have happened since then, and most of it for the better.

First off, I must apologize for abandoning my blog for so long. For some time I was in a bad bought of depression, and everything I found joy in were almost lost. In the middle of April 2012, I was, in a way, saved by the love of my life. After I met him, my life was starting to get better. I got a job that year as well for the first time in two years, and last year I started taking classes again, in order to get back into the pace of school (I plan on going to a university soon to earn my bachelor's degree in English :-) ). I know this is a long explanation, but I wanted to show how my life has changed and my reasons for not writing as much as I should have.

 So, since it is a new year, I would like to try to make a promise. I would like to at least write a few blogs this year; I am trying to get back into some of my old -good- habits. But I must ask you to have patience with me if I don't write as much as you want me to; with the combination of school, work, and my every day life, I tend to be too busy to get on a computer or use my tablet.

 To conclude, I would like to wish you all a happy new year and I am glad to be back on my old blogspot.

Hipsy's View: The City of Lost Souls

How many of you have gotten the chance to read the fifth Mortal Instruments installment? How many just started reading it? Are you almost finished with it? Or are you rereading it? How many of you have Mortal Instruments hysteria?! Okay, I might be going a little overboard there, but you can't tell me I'm the only one who enjoyed The City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in Cassandra Clare's popular series.

Image sourced from Goodreads.com

As many of you know, The City of Lost Souls came out in May of this year. I may not have been one of the first people waiting in line at a store to buy the book, but I was one of the first to check it out of my local library. Now, with most of the stuff going on in my life at the moment, it has taken me a little longer to read than usual (the first book took me as long to read as this one, but I read two through four within a month and a half!) But I got through it, and I loved it, especially the ending.....*wink* (you want to know the ending, then read it! lol)


Now, if none of you have yet read past The City of Ashes or City of Glass, take heed in reading the following; it's filled with spoilers.


In this one, Clary and the gang are back, and this time they're trying to find a way to save Jace (yet once again) and separate him from Lilith's curse that bound him to Sebastian, the real Jonathan Morgenstern, and Clary's brother. It looks as though Sebastian is planning on carrying out Valentine's plans, but with Jace's help, and possibly Clary's. Throughout the whole story, though, the characters face "daily" life problems. Simon has to find a way to tell his sister Rebecca about himself being a vampire; Maia and Jordan need to face their shared past and see if they can move on; Isabelle needs to tell something to Simon but doesn't know how to blurt it out; and Alec and Magnus seem to be falling apart. At the same time, they all need to find a way to save Luke from death and a way to break Lilth's spell on Jace (whether it be from Heaven or Hell). Will all this be done in time?


Now all that is left for those of us who love this series so dearly is to wait for the sixth and final book, titled City of Heavenly Fire, and is expected to be published on March 19, 2014. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to wrap my mind around it and finally read the prequels to the Mortal Instruments during this long wait. Until then, I hope you get a chance to read City of Lost Souls and enjoy the book as much as I did. I give this story a 5-star rating.

Hipsy's View: Blue Asylum

Image sourced from Goodreads.com

Iris Dunleavy has been declared insane, not only by her slave-owning husband, but by a Virginian sheriff and a doctor that's experted in "the hysteria of women". In order to be "cured" and made a proper woman and a good wife again, she is sent to the Sanibel Asylum, on an island in the Keys. Can she prove she's not a lunatic and escape the asylum where the cure for everything is in the color blue? Or will she stay trapped on an island populated by everyone that is affected by the war and some type of lunacy (including the doctor)?


I had the privilege to get to read an advance copy of this book (because it is one of my Goodreads First Reads). I found it a little hard to finish, but what kept me going were the characters' stories all broken into pieces. So whether I wanted to give up on finishing the novel or not, a part of me was dying to know more about the characters' personal histories that brought them to the island's asylum. Though the main character refused to admit to being a lunatic, she could not deny that there was something that did push her - and others- close it, especially in a time of war. If she is not crazy, then who is? Is it the superintendent that has to deal with all the patients' problems as well as his laudanum-addicted wife's and his own? Or his twelve-year-old son who has declared himself a lunatic? Or is it the Confederate solider that is haunted by a dark past he faced during the war? Perhaps they are all mad, and the best place for them all is the asylum where the color blue leads its patients back to sanity.


This story was good, and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in the back stories you never hear mentioned during the Civil War. I would also recommend it to anyone that likes to take their time to read a story.