Inspirational Quotes from Fictional Characters for an Awesome 2017

Starting a new year usually inspires us to take chances, make mistakes, try new things, believe in ourselves more. As geeks we often turn to books, movies, or tv shows for advice and comfort. In sticking with our resolutions for the next twelve months, here are some inspirational quotes from 2016 to make our world a little brighter. What quotes are motivating you this year? Feel free to share in the comments!

2017 New Years Film + Life Goals

2016 was one hell of a year - a spectacle we couldn't help but watch in slow motion no matter how much we tried to avoid it. Many events will make it memorable: cinematic disappointments (Suicide Squad), nostalgic surprises (Stranger Things), political train wrecks, protests, the loss of icons - to name a few. If I ever have kids and they ask me what 2016 was like, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enough words to describe it - confusing, bombastic, heated, inspiring, one for the ages.

To keep the chaos a little controllable and sobering, I had a wee list of things to do: matched my reading goal, committed to daily walking routine, drank more water, post more on instagram, survived the Captain America marathon, and perhaps the big one of all - dress up as Matt the Radar Technician for Halloween.

Like all good, bad, and the ugly things the world endured, they have to come to an end. Or at least roll over into a new start. 2016 put us through a lot and we were all ready to wave Bon Voyage.

But pointing fingers or throwing my hands up at a set of numbers also made me realize the kind of power I want to give 2017. And that's to see how much I can throw at it and see what it can withstand rather than the other way around. Create, read, watch, write, speak up, donate, work harder, relax better, wrangle my anxiety, try new things. If there's one impression the past twelve months and a bad-ass woman left on the world, it's not to have time for bull. There's no better time like the present.

+ Start A Bullet Journal. *hopping on the bandwagon* My journals are a bit messy, they have a rushed collection of lists and thoughts - but they are also too disorganized. Bullet journals looks like fun and might help me organize a few notebooks.

+ Read 17 books. My next goodreads challenge.

+ Keep up with Walking Dead recaps and Wonder Women series.

+ More Instagram. I just really like it.

+ Cosplay/dress-up for Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Wonder Woman (2017)

+ Complete my to-watch list. So many movies I desperately wanted to see ended up with limited releases, so I missed a lot of 2016 movies. And, the other half of the list are movies I always felt like watching but forgot. Can't wait for a time in the future when I think of those same movies and go "Hey, I saw that! FINALLY."

+ Write more movie reviews. I fell a little behind with this last year, failing to put into words what I thought about a movie or not feeling they were terrible enough to warn people against or inspire to take a chance on. So I'm gonna try to do both a little more.

+ Follow a Blog Calendar. Ideas are great to have, but I'd like for them to do more than pile up on each other in the draft section.

+ Health skidded sideways out of nowhere halfway through December, so hoping with some diet changes I can get back on track.

+ Continue #27Lessons. Turning 27 was strangely monumental. So many light-bulb moments went off at once of things I struggled to understand or put into practice. It inspired me to tweet a little hashtag of musings and will be sure to add more.

+ Get a new laptop. This one's going.

These are some things I have in mind for the next year. What are yours? What do hope to have done a year from today? Good luck on all your dreams and ideas!

2016 Year In Review: Movies

2016 was a strange year for movies - so many landed on my to-watch list for 2017 because of their limited releases, and what memorable movies I did see felt few and far between. In all, I watched about 50 flicks which beats last year's total but I plan on seeing a lot more next year.

Below are my favorites and picks for Best Of from what I've seen so far. When a movie is pretty bad, I tend to forget about it pretty easily - so there's no worst category here (unlike my 2016 tv post).  I hope you enjoy my picks of characters, couples, and genres. What were your favorite movies? What movie surprised or disappointed you? Let me know your favorite movies of 2016 in the comments!

2016 Year In Review: TV SHOWS

Television had many highs and lows in 2016. What show were you excited to see return? What was the worst character death? Some of these have been answered in categories for worst, favorites and best from what I watched have been compiled below. Spoilers ahead for the following shows: The X-Files, The Walking Dead, Bates Motel, Hell on Wheels, Jessica Jones, Scream Queens, Stranger Things. Hope you enjoy!

Geek Girls x Bloggers Christmas Card & Funko Exchange

Merry Christmas, everyone! This year blogging through the holidays has been extra special. Being apart of Geek Girls x Bloggers group is a special place to get to know fellow geeky bloggers and share a little holiday spirit with them. I joined in my first Christmas card and Funko Pop exchange. (Shout-out to DePepi who made the banner above!)

Trying to pick out cards, mailing, and waiting for snail mail had so much more anticipation than I expected, and was so much fun!

These are the cards I received and the *big* funko pop reveal. A few more I believe are on the way and can't wait to see them too and will add as they come.

Every single card was so imaginative - and your gals' selection made me so excited for future exchanges and even making or designing cards from scratch. The possibilities for geeky cards are much more limitless than I expected!

(from left to right)
Nikita drew an amazing illustration of the Harry Potter golden trio. They are so cute, and even more impressive - it's a notecard postcard! So creative!

Ashley's card is in an ugly Christmas style of Doctor Who with twin hearts, Police Box, the tardis, and screwdriver! I hadn't discovered Unicorn Empire before and now I'm obsessed.

Desiree - The snow-covered forest photo card is so beautiful. It's so classy - definitely a charming season's greetings!

Mickey crafted a wonderful recreation of Ron's Christmas sweater from Harry Potter. Again, you girls are so talented and creative!

Gingi. I'll never get this out of my head ever again. *dalek* DE-COR-ATE. This is magic. She also included Star Wars temporary tattoos, so 2017 is hopping on the right foot.

A huge thanks to every single one of you!

Another part of the Geek Girls x Bloggers holiday celebration was a Funko Pop Exchange. This was another first for me and so much fun to take part in.

After members signed up for the Funko exchange, they were given info of another member who signed up and a small wishlist of the top five pops they'd like to add to their collection. And then we picked one to send each other - just like Secret Santa.

My partner was Mariah from Bizarre Brunette. I had such an adventurous time picking out her Funko, and receiving one in return was just as exciting. When I opened her box, I was so happy to add another Harry Potter funko to my collection - Ron! She also included an Ursula figure from The Little Mermaid. I love the villains so this was an awesome surprise!

He's so cute with his little broken wand from Chamber of Secrets and his robes. Thank you so much Mariah! I can't wait to know your reaction for the pop I sent you!

Thank you to Geek Girls x Bloggers for managing the exchanges, to Nikita, Ashley, Desiree, Mickey, and Gingi (and the future cards that are coming!)!

Thank you to every blogger I've met, visited, and talked to this year. I wish everyone a wonderful Happy Holidays!

La La Land (2016) lacks that little something extra

Photo Credit: La La Land / Summit Entertainment

Every city shimmers with stars trying to outshine their hardships. Making dreams comes true isn't easy, but the aspirations people hold offer a long forgotten hope and determination hidden underneath the daily grind. As is the centerpiece of Damien Chazelle's musical-drama La La Land.

Set against the vast landscape of Los Angeles, Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) is an aspiring actress working on the Warner Bros. lot serving as a barista to film stars. Every chance she has the striving starlet heads out to an audition and faces the grueling cycle of rejection and perseverance. When she meets Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), a struggling jazz pianist, they grapple with getting by and pushing each other forward.

Straight out of the gate, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are a charming duet. Having worked together in two films before, they share an undeniable camaraderie that translates to the big screen. Together and separately, they speak so much to the struggle and glory of abandoning a day job when everything they do may be in pursuit of their dream. Their characters' relationship adds a gradual weight of questioning themselves and each other. Dancing and singing, loving and fighting, they create relatable characters and deliver earnest performances.

Another delightful and unexpected character is Los Angeles. Every location like Mia's apartment or Seb's bar is more than a backdrop; it teems with energy, hope, validation, success, failure. Efforts by the costume, cinematography, and music make the city absolutely electric. Between brushes with celebrities, old landmarks tarnished and celebrated by modernity, and the cast's trepidation and excitement to put themselves out there over and over again, there's so much life bursting beneath Hollywood Hills. California dreaming may be the setting here, but it also gives everyone a new chance to think of their own little corner of the world and how it gleams with ambition and longing.

You've got the glory, you gotta take the little heartaches that go with it. - Singing in the Rain

Though the acting is delightful and the story brims with touching highs and lows, critics' comparisons that this movie completely resurrects the musical genre once led by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, is a little misleading.

Chazelle's bittersweet championing of artists for La La Land is drastically different than his unabashed hit Whiplash, not just in style but also somewhat in quality. While the latter may not be considered an official musical, Chazelle's ability to express sacrifice and abuse between mentor and student through jazz with tight editing in an intense pace is masterful. Here, Chazelle channels 1950s Tinseltown but his attention to detail doesn't feel as sharp. The musical sequences start as imaginative but grow repetitive by just dropping a spotlight. Though the film references are neat for movie buffs, and it's totally impressive to create a modern musical with original songs instead of adapting another Broadway hit, some touches feel like an aesthetic choice; some seem deliberate, some seem random, and the mixture misses opportunities to flesh out the tone he's aiming for.

Unlike Michel Hazanavicius' vision with The Artist to recreate a silent film, Chazelle shines his attention much more on Sebastian's quest than MGM spectacles via Busby Berkley, Vincente Minelli, or the studio system in general. And this does a disservice to Mia whose journey becomes a little too befuddled by the audition-rejection machine. Her devotion to storytelling, an one-woman show, and admiration of film or its icons beyond the occasional Ingrid Bergman poster and takes a gradual backseat to all things jazz.  This isn't to say that there aren't nods to Old Hollywood at all, just that her love of acting or movies or creating characters doesn't speak volumes the way I thought it could. What really blooms with nostalgia is Justin Hurwitz's animated score and how the production uses 'old' and 'new' film styles to share the character's struggles - even if it doesn't hit all the right notes.

Ultimately, the film's retro elements emulate the characters' expectations while reality is much more of a contemporary drama.

Mia and Sebastian's joy and pain spring about in whimsical declarations and somber melodies, a dance among the stars to whistled musings along a pier at sunset. Their hopes and doubts are illuminated with bold sets and vibrant costumes a la Singing In The Rain or American In Paris. When reality interjects with sacrifice, rejection, and facing failure, the movie tones down on those cinematic sensations. 'Cause the unfortunate drawback of our desires is that sometimes reality is nothing to sing about; people have to make ends meet or live up to their own expectations. Dreams lift us up, and reality can grind us down harshly. Both avenues are engaging, but it does feel like there is more drama than musical.

Much like the vintage film factory where average Joes and Janes toiled away to be in showbiz, La La Land draws on conflict and compromise of dreams. Life may not be as easy as it looks in the grand movies we lose ourselves in, but sometimes seeing it through Technicolor glasses goes a long way. Chazelle celebrates creatives with Stone and Gosling delivering buoyant and warm performances. Though Chazelle's musical-drama left me inspired and deeply contemplative, it's not as tightly constructed as his previous work. It does, however, leave goosebumps, butterflies, and a lasting impression to the fools who dream and the mess we make.

RATING: ★★☆

Have you seen La La Land What are your thoughts?

Sully (2016) struggles to stay afloat

Photo Credit: Sully / Warner Bros Pictures

It's often said that everyday heroes aren't born, they're made. With years of experience and dedication behind them, gut instinct or intuition manages to override logistics. When a miracle trumps all the odds, it's easy to be skeptical or to think it's blind luck. All of this culminated with an on-screen adaptation of true events about Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) landing his passenger flight on the Hudson River to save everyone on board, and the attention it received as the Miracle on the Hudson.

Brought to life by veteran director Clint Eastwood, Sully is a combination of the events leading up to this unexpected landing and the aftermath. The story touches on a bit of everything like Sully's past his post-traumatic stress after the crash, the world's frenzy around his heroics, and his pragmatic ability to handle the press.

Though the movie is in experienced hands, it's not very clear what Eastwood's intention is. He certainly builds a heart-pounding recreation of Sully's flight from take-off to the landing, but other parts of the movie tries too much to be a biopic while capturing the insurance investigation he faces from the airline. Scenes dealing his shaky life at home feels cold and distant compared to the detail of Sully and the first-responders' actions bringing hope to New York City after 9/11.

Fortunately, Hanks makes the film take flight. His Sully is fairly pragmatic and dedicated to his job. Nothing of what he, his crew or the passengers survived could be trained for. Yet his entire career of transporting millions of people around the world and thousands of flights is judged on 208 seconds, and the experience he has to make the necessary calls. It's truly astounding and frustrating when he comes under fire for saving more than a hundred people as the inexplicable outcome is challenged as a fluke. Hanks is profoundly polished as Sully balances his worry of having failed his crew and the passengers, and the odd fad of becoming famous for what he did. It's one of his sharpest performances to date.

Hanks isn't entirely on his own. Every actor or extra like the first-responders, host of skeptic insurance agents, and his legion of admirers feel authentic. Aaron Eckhart as First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, in particular, has a refreshing sense of professional camaraderie as he and Sully's rapport is humorous and amiable. Despite dramatically re-enacting the whole incident from take-off to crash and the consequences, every scene feels sincere and avoids being over-the-top like many 'disaster' flicks.

Sully is a fitting addition to Eastwood's string of films focusing on All-American figures like J.Edgar, Jersey Boys and American Sniper. The story itself is fascinating, especially for those who remember the incident on the news but wasn't quite sure of all the details. Hanks' performance and the Miracle on the Hudson is an inspiring, distinct reminder of the human spirit, even if Eastwood's vision struggles to stay afloat.
Rating: ★★☆ Have you seen Sully What are your thoughts?