The X-Files Revival: My Struggle & Founders Mutation

Mulder and Scully finally return for the highly-anticipated The X-Files revival. Finally we can say adios to the long wait for the tenth season! Below is a recap and my thoughts of the premiere episode as well as the follow-up. Hope you enjoy!

My Struggle, directed and written by show creator Chris Carter, had a lot to catch up on in the fourteen years since the show last aired, and nearly eight years since his second film opened to negative reviews.

In the series' finale Mulder escaped his indictment with the help of Scully and their fellow agents. The duo met with a wise man in the Grand Canyons who had knowledge of the alien's invasion at the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. What the pairing discovered was the thought-to-be-dead Cancer Man, who was then blown to smithereens. Having survived yet another deadly encounter against their rival, the agents moved forward lying low from the FBI. For the second film I Want To Believe, the charges against Mulder were eventually dropped when he was called in to investigate a serial kidnapping, which left him and Scully's personal relationship strained.

One lingering question from the series' finale we wanted answered was the meaning of Cancer Man's revelation about the Mayan Calendar and the end of the world. Since the real world pushed onwards past 2012, the series made a turn to use that famous apocalyptic date as our own inflicted demise.

Extraordinary Artwork of The X-Files

CalebDoodles

Now that the episodic recaps are over, it's time to take a look at The X-Files in another way. The epic revival is just around the corner, and I thought it'd be fun to look at some of the awesome and adorable fanart out there. Here's part one of artwork with Mulder and Scully on their alien-esque adventures. Enjoy!

8 Awesome Trailers to Pump Up For 2016

We have a whole new year of superhero battles, women kicking ass, forgetful fish, and fantastic beasts ahead of us.

Here are eight awesome movie trailers to pump us up for 2016! What are you looking forward to this year? Feel free to share in the comments!

10 Guy Movies I Proudly Survived

HALT: Is that misogyny I hear yander?

It's hard to believe in the 21st century that No Women Allowed clubs are still prevalent in the entertainment world. Sony hack emails revealed actresses being paid less than their male co-stars. Female cosplayers and video gamers are objectified. Female directors can't seem to break new ground in Hollywood. And according to a recent film critic, women shouldn't see an abrasive movie like The Revenant.

For the past year director Alejandro González Iñárritu's adaptation has gained media attention. The story ventures the early American west as a frontiersman Hugh Glass is left for dead by his crew after a crippling bear attack. It's centered on a father enacting revenge for his son's murder as he attempts to survive a harsh winter against Native Americans reclaiming what was stolen from them and violent, pillaging raping settlers. Due to the epic nature of its film-making, crew members walked off the project and brawls between actor and director broke out on-set. There's hunting, pillaging, blood and guts, rape, animal carcasses, and vengeance.

X-Files Xtras: Thoughts on Season 8 and Season 9

The ending of season seven forced us to embark on a new era: one without Mulder, one with two new agents and replacements working alongside Scully, one that left us with questions about his disappearance and with the startling news of Scully's pregnancy. It pretty much dismantled the entire series as we knew it and tried to rebuild against a series imposed deadline.

So Mulder is gone, and season eight was another day. When a main character leaves it's hard to welcome the new kid in town. But, my god, I loved John Doggett. Choosing Robert Patrick as David Duchovny's replacement was perfect. He has to be given credit where it's due - his character comes in at the last second to tag-along with Scully in finding Mulder - two people he had no real prior investment in. He's a career guy without a family, a skeptical city cop, not built or trained to be investigating paranormal / supernatural phenomena. In a lot of ways, he's like Scully; he's assigned to the X-Files to spy on it for Assistant Director Kursh - someone who's oh so happy to have the department gone and out of the FBI. Doggett took over Scully's role as the skeptic, and Scully tried to think more like Mulder. But Doggett respects and likes Scully. She has the authority and he doesn't try to override or undermine her intelligence. In fact, he's pretty smitten and intrigued by her from beginning.

2016 New Years Film + Life Goals

Happy 2016, everyone!

What does your 2015 bucket list look like? Mine is sadly incomplete. I've always been someone whose made new years' resolutions, but I'm not a perfectionist about completing every single item. I did, however, like to finish at least more than half. But. . . .last year - I failed.

My inability to get things done is not from a lack of ambition, at least I don't think so. Exhaustion seemed to be at the heart of my lack of determination. There were some hard times that left me in an emotional fog - one that I hope not to let happen again in 2016.

2015 wasn't an entire letdown. I managed to accomplish a little: enjoying long walks around my neighborhood; worldbuilt and plotted more stories; drank less coffee; started a personal writing blog; graduated college; watched nine years of The X-Files in nine months before the revival; covered GeekyCon; stuck to a posting schedule; completed every Walking Dead recap for the latest season so far; kept my Letterboxd account updated.

"Failure" can happen for many reasons. I may not have done all that I wanted to, but I keep trying. Last year taught me that there are goals that just don't fit me; ones I've tried to complete multiple times but nevertheless lose my passion. And, there are right goals too; ones that just need a little bit more inspiration and determination to pull me through.

From 2014 I put into practice what I learned about time management. I figured out more along the way where I really value my time (less social media + less internet + more writing + more blogging). But I also had a major wake-up call: if my bucket list was so empty, where I did spend all of my time? I'm sure there's more I did, I just can't remember it all - which makes me want to create and fulfill more memorable goals for the next 365 days.

BLOG GOALS:
Stick to a Daily/Weekly/Monthly Schedule: I enjoyed little series I started like Stars I Love, Hidden Gems, and Fancasting that I would like to keep active. There are some blog challenges I have in mind too. I also would like to do more seasonal and timely posts; topics that fall in line with a holiday, month, or season.

Netflix Watchlist: Almost 50 movies are on my Netflix watchlist, and they've been there for a while. I'm going to be active in actually watching them.

Empty out my draft queue: Let's not get crazy here. There are like 96 posts in my draft queue! On top of my other blog ideas, I doubt know if I'll make a dent. I would like to lessen this amount but am not deluding myself to hit zero.

PERSONAL GOALS:
drink more water;
commit to daily walking routine;
read 16 books;
reach fictional writing word count goals;
handle time management better;
make more geeky crafts;
post more on instagram;
cosplay/dress up for movies like Captain America/Independence Day;
get more Walking Dead actors to tweet me.

Best and Favorite Films of 2015

2015 will be over tomorrow night, and blimey - it was an interesting and fun year! Even though I didn't make it to the theaters as much as I wanted to, my watch count managed to get up to a decent forty-one! I'd love to see if I can beat this total next year.

Thist list of Best and Favorite Films of 2015 is a hodge-podge of categories. It's really a mix of people, characters and movies that I fell in love with over the year. Some movies from the past few years were new to me, so they've been included alongside movies released this year too.

You might noticed that 'Worst' movies hasn't been mentioned yet. I'm considering put those in a separate list since this list is long enough.

There's not a lot of spoilers throughout this post except for the category Favorite Hero (Crimson Peak) and Best Supporting Actress (The Hateful Eight). Read at your own risk!

I hope you enjoy my personal picks of favorites and best of 2015! Hope you have a cinematastic 2016!