A Year Later...

Does anyone even still use blogger? or read blogs made with blogger? either way... 

Hello everyone!

Yes, yes, I know, it's been a long time--a year, to be precise, and I'm sorry it took so long to get back on here!

In my defense, blogger wasn't letting me log in for a while, and then I sorta ended up moving on to WordPress (mainly for a college assignment and I just sort of stuck with it).

Since the last time I posted was way back in like early 2017, allow me to fill you in on what's been going on:

I dropped out of university, moved back home for a while, worked full-time, decided to go to college for Sales and Marketing, moved out from my parents' place, graduated college, adopted two amazing kitties, and now I'm moving to Toronto in October to pursue my dream of writing by attending the Toronto Film School in their Writing for Film & TV program!

My boys Simba (the small orange one) and Lightning (the older one) 

While I'm super excited to be leaving New-Brunswick for a while, I'm also super nervous about leaving the province and being so far away from the familiarity of it all.

Other than that, nothing has really changed about me.

Once this post has been published, I will check back in a little while to see if anyone even still uses this site, and if not, I think I will just merge this blog with my Wordpress one (somehow).

For those of you who are curious, check out my WordPress blog here: https://thesecretlifeofserena.wordpress.com

- AbiTheOtakuGirl 

Cosplay Rant!

*THIS RANT IS ABOUT COSPLAY AND RACISM! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!*

Okay, so this has been bugging me for an extremely long time, so I decided to write a post about it. I hate to say it, but the cosplay community is subject to racism as much as any other community (and that in itself pisses me off to no end, but that's another story for another day). Now, I just want to say that in my opinion, it doesn't matter what color your skin is, cosplay whoever you want! If you want to cosplay a white character, go for it! If you want to be a character who happens to be black, go for it! If they're green, or blue, or purple...I think you get the point I'm trying to make. If you want to cosplay any character, do it. If anyone bashes on you because 'your skin tone makes your cosplay inaccurate', ignore them!

All of that aside, I also want to point out that racism isn't just targeted towards one race; it affects everyone. Here's an example:

A black girl wants to cosplay as Sailor Venus (a character who is typically white), while racist cosplayers will insult and bash on her for cosplaying 'outside of her skin tone/race', the rest of the community is cheering her on and telling her that it doesn't matter if she's black or white; she can cosplay whoever she wants.

This is a photo I found on Pinterest. And look at her, she is totally bad-ass looking and is totally rocking her cosplay!

But, (and yes there's always a 'but') the same can (and does) happen in reverse.

A white girl wants to cosplay Storm from the X-Men series, or even Moana from Disney's new film with the same name (who are both black characters-- well Moana is Polynesian, but you get the point; she's not really in a white person's 'skin tone'), will get as much hate as a black person who wants to cosplay as a white character.

I mean, look at this: she looks totally bad-ass! I don't see why she should get any hate whatsoever; her cosplay looks incredible and she seems to be having fun. 

Personally, I don't see why we can't just all have fun cosplaying characters we love and admire or feel a connection with.

Personal example: I'm super-white (I'm the palest person in my family) (see image below for reference.)

I'm so pale, my own parents even said I look 'sickly pale' (I don't get much sun to be honest)

And I, like several people all over the world, watched and loved Disney's "Moana".

Like several other people all over the world who have seen this movie, I felt a real connection with the main heroine; Moana.

Now, I won't bore you with why or how I feel like I can relate to Moana and all that stuff, but I will tell you this: even if I'm 'sickly pale' as my oh-so-loving parents were so willing to announce to me, I will probably end up cosplaying her. I mean, why shouldn't I? Because I'm not Polynesian? Because I'm as white as they come? Because I'm an American/Canadian who has Irish, Polish, and a bunch of other different heritages in my blood? That's utterly ridiculous! So long as you don't try to 'color match' your skin (as in try to make your skin darker to match a character's skin-tone or vise-versa if people even do that?), I don't see why you shouldn't cosplay whoever you want.

I mean, we can cosplay as green or purple or blue characters, but everyone loses their minds when we cosplay as a character with a 'natural' skin-tone that doesn't match ours? Is anyone else seeing just how ridiculous this whole ordeal is?

Cosplay is about having fun being a character you love, regardless of their skin-tone. If you don't believe that, then maybe you should just leave the cosplay community.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, it felt incredibly good to let that out. Anyway, my next post shouldn't be as serious (and hopefully won't be a rant!) and I hope you still enjoyed this and if you disagree, that's on you, but don't ruin the cosplay community for everyone else who loves it.

Until next time guys!

-SerenaTheMoonPony

The Origin of my Lion King Obsession

In case you couldn't tell from my various posts when I mention The Lion King and get super into it and lose my train of thought, I am a major fan of Disney's The Lion King as well as it's sequel; The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

So, I thought, why not share the story of how I even got super into it like I did with the world? (Not that I think anyone really cares; it's more for me than it is for anyone else to be completely honest) And here we are. I'm about to share with all of you a story not even my closest friends know; the story of how I got into The Lion King!

It all started about five years ago, back when I was in the seventh grade; a long time ago. I should mention that the 2010-2011 academic year had been one of the worst ones for me; I was doing good in most of my classes except for P.E and music (P.E was normal for me to be below average, but not music or anything else), not to mention, when you're stuck in a classroom with the same bunch of obnoxious brats (no offense to anyone who went to elementary school with me are currently reading this) for *then* eight years, you get pretty annoyed with being around them. So, basically, I started feeling kind of down and didn't want anything to do with school or my classmates.

During Christmas break, I was up late one night, and decided to watch a movie. Back then, we had a huge disk case filled with burned Disney movies on DVD, so I went through it and stumbled across The Lion King. Remembering the movie vaguely from my childhood (to be honest, at that point, I only remembered The Lion King 1 1/2 so I wasn't even 100% sure what was going to happen in the movie; it had been ages since I watched it), I decided to pop in into my DVD player and watch it and I immediately fell in love with it and just longed for that 'Hakuna Matata' lifestyle; I didn't want to have to worry about school or my health (I'm a type 1 diabetic in case you didn't know), or anything for that matter.

The following night, while browsing through our DVDs, I discovered the sequel to The Lion King; The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Not even knowing there was a sequel at the time, I put it on and watched it.

Nobody, not even I know why or how, but something clicked in my head and I just fell in love with that movie immediately, even more so than I did with the original Lion King. I loved (and still love) pretty much everything about it; the characters, the story, all of it.

So then back in 2012 when they re-released the movie in theaters, I obviously went to watch it in 3D! And when they released the trilogy on Blu-Ray, I bought it with my 'Christmas money' (best 80$ I ever spent to be honest!).

For the longest time (from December 2010- April 2013), my whole life revolved around The Lion King trilogy. I knew all the dialogue by heart (I still do for Simba's Pride actually!), I knew the names of all the voice actors and who they played for all three movies, and I knew the lyrics to all the songs including the ones from the Broadway musical (actually, I still do know them all!).

Today, The Lion King isn't as involved in my life as it once was, seeing as I have countless other fandoms other than The Lion King, but it's still a major part of my life; actually, I think my obsession of The Lion King made a full-circle (of life) and is actually close to as involved in my life as it was back then. Also, I'm actually planning to get a Lion King tattoo in the near future once I have the cash saved up!

Something similar to this, but I'm not sure where I'm going to put it yet

Well, that's the story of how I became obsessed with The Lion King. I'm not sure when the next time I'll post anything on here is, but I'll try to make it sooner than later! Until next time guys!

- SerenaTheMoonPony

Update

Hey everyone,

I did plan to start posting on here a little more often again, but things got in the way and I haven't had the time/will to write posts.

I started university a little over a month ago, and ever since I've been emotionally unstable to be completely honest. Between the midlife crisis-esque feelings, and an utterly unbearable roommate, my patience and mental stability are running out real quick. (But hopefully the roommate issue is going to be resolved soon! But that's not the point of this post...)

Though one thing that always cheers me up is writing (including these posts), so that being said, I am going to try my best to post more regularly (whenever I can find the time, that is). Being in university is definitely giving me slightly less time to write for fun, (I mean, I still write for fun way more than I should as a university student, but I still have plenty of assignments to work on as well.) but I will try to find time to post more frequently if I can.

I really didn't have much else to say in this post, so that's all for now.

- SerenaTheMoonPony

Harley Quinn & the Joker = 'Relationship Goals'?! (or 'Why Harley and Joker aren't 'relationship goals' and which couple makes better 'relationship goals' in my opinion')

Hey everyone!

So, if you couldn't tell by the title of this post, I'm going to be discussing this nonsense that's been going around the internet for a little while now. 

So, ever since 'Suicide Squad', there's been a lot of talk about how Harley and Joker are 'relationship goals'. Look, the Joker is both physically and mentally abusive towards Harley in pretty much everything they're in be it the comics, the animated series or films. Do you really want your 'relationship goals' to be based off a abusive relationship? I know I wouldn't. 

If you ask me, I think everybody's 'relationship goals' should pretty much be Simba and Nala from The Lion King (or Morticia and Gomez from The Addams Family, or even Kovu and Kiara from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, but I'm not talking about them right now; my focus is on Simba and Nala). Now, you're probably asking: 

"Gee Serena, why do you say that they should be considered real 'relationship goals'?" Well, I'm going to tell you why: 

Let's start in the The Lion King. First off, when Simba and Nala are cornered by the hyenas at the Elephant Graveyard, notice how Simba has 'rescued' Nala a couple times from the hyenas. Then, when the two friends are once again reunited as adults, Simba is hesitant to return to the Pridelands, and he (in my opinion at least) acts a bit childish during their discussion, but it's extremely evident that she cares deeply for him, and realizes that they're both a little upset in that moment and leaves him to re-gather his thoughts. (again, just my opinion and personal interpretation of the whole thing) Also, when Simba returns to the Pridelands to confront Scar, Nala follows him and even tells him she'll help fight for their home. On top of that, even after Simba 'confessed' that it was his 'fault' that Mufasa was dead, Nala is still concerned for him when fire strikes the dry grass below the tip of Pride rock, and he's dangling at the edge. To me, that shows that Nala loves him regardless of his past sins (which weren't even his, plus he did say 'it was an accident' during that scene, plus I don't Nala would believe that Simba is a cold-hearted murderer who killed his own father). And if the rest of the movie isn't an indication of how much she cares for him (and he for her), than I don't know what is.

Now, if you look in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, you'll notice that Simba was a real douche throughout almost the entire film (again, all in my opinion, but I think some people will agree with me here), and Nala is there and puts up with all the crap Simba's doing during the movie. In example, at almost the very beginning, Simba is worrying about Kiara's safety, and Nala's there to remind him that he was exactly the same (if not worse) when he was a cub. To me, this proves that Nala isn't afraid to be honest with Simba and point out when he's being somewhat unreasonable. During most of the film, Simba acts very harshly towards Kovu, even more so when he starts spending more time with Kiara, and Nala tries to convince him to get to know the young lion instead. Also, near the end of the movie when Zira and Kiara go tumbling down the edge of a cliff, Simba goes after them in attempt to help them. At that moment, the dam holding back the water from the river breaks and Nala immediately warns Simba, another sign that she truly does care about Simba in my opinion. Plus, they've nuzzled each other multiple times in the movie (I've counted about 6 or 7 times, but I could be wrong!). 

It's obvious that Simba and Nala care for each other a lot and have a pretty healthy relationship. So, why make your 'relationship goals' an abusive relationship when you could aim for a relationship where you understand the need for personal time, where you are supportive of your partner and they're supportive towards you, and where you and your partner are able to keep each other in check when needed? 

- SerenaTheMoonPony 

My Thoughts on "Suicide Squad"

Hey everyone!

So, Saturday me and my friend finally went to see 'Suicide Squad', and I must say it was better than I expected. My main concern was Harley Quinn; I was scared they were going to just sex her up and not even bother to mention how awesome she really is.

*This is basically going to be me talking about what I liked and disliked about Harley's character, so if you were looking for a full movie review, this isn't the post for you.*

What I liked
I enjoyed the overall concept of the movie, as well as the characters. As far as Harley Quinn went, I liked that they didn't make her a complete ditz, and they actually used a bit of her good traits in the film such as the fact that she's trained in gymnastics and the fact that she was a psychologist before she became a villain.

What I disliked
Personally, I find they made Harley a little too ditzy for my liking, and they didn't really portray her as the strong woman she is (I mean, don't get me wrong, they made her a pretty strong and though woman, but not nearly as strong and independent as I would have liked) I didn't like the fact that they had her parading around with barely any clothes on; call me old-fashioned, but I prefer her when she's wearing the red and black spandex suit.


Overall opinion 
In the end, I did enjoy the movie, but I wish they would have made Harley's character a bit different, and I would have loved if they would have included Poison Ivy and maybe even Catwoman, but overall, it was funny, action-packed and quite entertaining.


- SerenaTheMoonPony

Ghostbusters!

Hey everyone!

So, a few days ago (Thursday, actually), my aunt treated me and my 15 year-old cousin to a movie. We went to see the new Ghostbusters movie.

Now, after hearing all the negative comments about the movie and all the controversy that I really didn't bother to look into, I told myself I was going to go see this movie with an open mind and make an opinion for myself after the movie. And honestly, I don't know why they made that much of a big deal over this movie in the negative way they did.

Yeah, I get it. The original Ghostbusters was a classic and there's no way anything could top it. While I may not have 'grown up' in the era when the original movie came out, it was still something I watched many times with my parents and in a way did 'grow up' with. And yes, I know the theme song is great (trust me, I know it by heart too!), but that's no reason to bash on Fall Out Boy's version. Like, if it's not your cup of tea, then don't listen to it, go find the original and play it all day then.

We are all aloud to like or dislike things, but there's no reason to bash on something just because you don't like it. I don't like Taylor Swift and you don't see me talking shit about her!

But in all honesty, I actually really did enjoy this remake. The plot was good, the cast was incredible; the original ghostbusters (other than Harold Ramis who passed away in 2014) even made cameo appearances! Not to mention there was a ton of references to the original film. I thought that was amazing how they put in all those hidden 'Easter eggs' for those of us who have seen and remember the original.

In my opinion, there really is no legitimate reason to be so hateful against this movie. Now, I'm not saying that everyone needs to start liking this film, far from it, but, these people need to realize that they're being just plain dumb if they're going to hate a film because it's a remake of an '80's classic, or because the ghostbusters are women. I mean really, these ladies were fantastic in my opinion; extremely hilarious, and they were well written if you ask me.

From left to right: Leslie Jones (as Patty Tolan), Melissa McCarthy (as Abby Yates), Kristen Wiig (as Erin Gilbert) and Kate McKinnon (as Jillian Holtzmann)

I would definitely watch it again. While they claimed it was a 'remake' of the original, I personally felt like it was more of a new take on a classic, almost as if they sort of re-imagined it while keeping in some stuff that the fans of the original film would understand.

I'll leave the trailer below for those of you who might not have seen it yet!

- SerenaTheMoonPony