Archive for August, 2012

Warner Bros. Releases Titles and Release Dates for Hobbit Sequels

Aug 31, 2012 movies and tv

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

.

Pardon my inner fangirl, but today Warner Bros. announced titles and release dates for the second and third parts of The Hobbit movie.

The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will open December 14 of this year.

Part two will be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It is due in theaters on December 13, 2013.

The third and final part will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again. It will arrive in theaters on July 18, 2014.

“We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films. Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tentpole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure,” said Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman in the press release.

It’ll be interesting to see how Peter Jackson manages to make three whole movies out of The Hobbit book.

I do hope when they come out on DVD, they do extended versions, like they did with Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. It takes a while to sit through that version of LOTR, but the added scenes that were cut from the theatrical version make the movie so much more complete.

[Image courtesy of Warner Bros./New Line]

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A Quick Exercise to Boost Your Self-Confidence

Aug 27, 2012 monday motivations

A lack of self-confidence is one of the biggest reasons people never accomplish their goals.

Maybe others told them they couldn’t do something. Maybe they have a fear of failing. There are a myriad of reasons why people lack self-confidence.

But if you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities, how are others supposed to?

 

So here’s a quick exercise I’d like you to do, to remind yourself of how awesome you can really be.

While you’re sitting here reading this on your computer, go and open any kind of note-taking program you have. It can be as simple as the notepad program that comes with most computers.

Title the page: “THINGS I’M GOOD AT” – yes, in all caps.

If you can, bold it and change the font color to bright red (or your favorite color).

Then I want you to make a list of everything you can do well.

Can you speak more than one language? Bake a mean cupcake? Run a marathon? Touch the tip of your tongue to your nose?

Do you always remember important dates of friends and family (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)? Can you figure out a 15% tip in your head? Can you put on your eyeliner in a straight line (I’ve tried, really, I’ve tried)?

Do you always know how to cheer someone up? Know how to dance? Can you say “watermelon” five times fast?

It doesn’t matter how trivial, funny, or weird you think it is, if you can do it, write it down. Don’t leave anything out.

Then save the file where you can find it on your computer. Feel free to add to it whenever you discover there’s something else you’re good at.

Next time you need a boost to your self-confidence, open up that list and read through it. It’s a good reminder that you are capable of accomplishing things, even when you have those days where nothing goes right.

Believe in yourself.

You CAN do it.

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What’s With All the Unprotected Sex?

Aug 24, 2012 life

Right now, I don’t have cable. I use a digital antenna to get the local stations for free. Sometimes, I can get up to 10 channels. Some days, I can only get two.

Today is one of those days.

Unfortunately one of those channels is what I refer to as the “baby daddy” network. All day long, all they air are shows like Maury, Springer, Jeremy Kyle, etc.

Now, I’m not one to go around judging people by their sex life. You want to go around sleeping with different people, that’s your business.

But what really gets me is the seemingly high number of women who do this and don’t use protection. Then they go on these shows because they have a kid, but they don’t know who the father is.

Here’s a thought: if you used condoms and/or birth control, you wouldn’t have a kid, and you wouldn’t be wondering who the “baby daddy” is.

I don’t know why so many people refuse to be protected during sex with people they are not in a monogamous relationship with. Besides pregnancy, you also risk getting STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) like herpes or even AIDS.

You can say, “Oh, I know this person and I know they’re disease free.” But what about all the partners THEY are sleeping with unprotected, and the partners those people are sleeping with.

That’s one huge germ pool you are swimming in.

So, please, if you’re an adult use protection. If you’re a parent, suck it up and tell your kids about condoms and why it’s important to be protected during sex. You can’t pretend they aren’t eventually going to have sex, and it’s your job to make sure they don’t end up getting an STD or get pregnant before they’re ready to have a kid.

I know this kind of responsible behavior will put all these shows out of business, but a person should respect themselves enough to protect their body when having sex.

[photo courtesy of Melbia]

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Why You Shouldn’t Put Off Dreams

Aug 20, 2012 monday motivations

It seems from birth, we are conditioned to believe that we go to school, we get a job, get married, start a family and then we retire. Sensible, but unfortunately, we are also taught that we need to wait until we reach that retirement stage to do things we’ve always dreamed of doing, like traveling.

But if you have a dream, you shouldn’t put it off.

People go through life indoctrined that it’s wrong to just go for what they want. Most wait until they retire to do what they’ve always dreamed of.

Why not do it now?

I believe people should do what makes them happy. No, it’s not always possible, but as I stated before, most failures occur simply because the person doesn’t even try.

So what’s your dream?

Want to be a gourmet cook? Take some classes. Want to travel? Put aside the money and go. Want to run a marathon? Get off the couch and start running.

Yes, it’s good to have a big picture of your dream, but to make it happen, you need to not get bogged down with the enormity of it all. Break it down and plan it out.

In fact, write it down.

Seeing it in print helps make your dream more tangible and attainable.

Remember those outlines you used to write in school? Make an outline of your dream and the steps you need to accomplish to get there.

Some dreams may need more than one page. That’s ok. Again, don’t let the big picture overwhelm you. Start at the beginning – what do you need to get the ball rolling?

Not every dream is immediately attainable. However, if you keep working towards that goal and you can keep crossing off those little steps you wrote out, you’ll be that much closer to making it happen.

Positive thinking works wonders.

In order to make your dream real, you have to believe it can happen. Too often, I see people tell themselves they can’t. Don’t do that to yourself.

Really, what do you have to lose? Even if it doesn’t happen, at least you made the effort. But if you psych yourself into thinking you can’t accomplish something, you never will.

So don’t wait until the end of your life to make dreams happen. Do it now. You deserve the happiness.

[photo courtesy of antixstar]

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Get Free Kindle Copies of Select Moon Handbooks Travel Guides

Aug 17, 2012 contests/freebies, travel

Moon Handbooks is one of the most respected travel guide publishers out there. The books usually have some information not found in other guidebooks.

This month, Moon is offering two of their U.S. guidebooks for free in the Kindle version (ebook). These books happen to be the cities that are hosting the Democratic and Republican conventions this year.

Republicans will be invading the Tampa and St Petersburg area of Florida at the end of August. But you don’t have to be going to the GOP convention to get a free download of Moon Tampa and St. Petersburg. This freebie will save you $17.95.

Democrats will be headed to Charlotte, NC, shortly after for their convention. For them – and anyone else traveling to the city – a free download of Moon Charlotte is available. You’ll save $16.95 with this freebie.

If you don’t have a Kindle, you can still take advantage of these ebook deals. Amazon has a free Kindle reading app for smartphones, tablets and computers, that you can also download (I use it).

Be sure to share these freebies with your friends, so they can get these great guidebooks.

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If You Don’t Go After What You Want, You’ll Never Have It

Aug 13, 2012 monday motivations

Often when I’m talking about life goals or bucket list items or whatever it is you want to call them, people always invaribly say something like, “I’ve always wanted to do (fill in the blanks).”

So the first question I’ll ask them is: “What have you done to try and achieve that goal.”

Usually the answer is, “Nothing.”

I’ll then ask why and I’m offered a myriad of excuses.

Truth of the matter people, things don’t usually just happen to you.

Almost everything you go through in life is a consequence of things you’ve done somewhere along the way. Yes, there are things that are out of your control, like interactions with others and what I like to call “acts of God” that there are just no planning for.

But if there’s something you’ve always wanted to do with your life, whether it’s a career choice or just an experience, it’s not going to happen without you taking that first step forward. Even if it’s just a baby step, without that initial inertia you won’t have any energy to accomplish what you want to do in life.

Yes, it’s easy to let self-doubt and a fear of failure stop you from trying.

I understand this all too well. But there’s nothing I’ve accomplished in my life that has just happened. It all started with me exhaling and taking that first step.

Yes, I have failed at things.

I’m no different from anybody else. But if I hadn’t at least tried, it would’ve been an automatic failure. At least when I do attempt to achieve a goal, I stand a chance of success.

So, next time you want to achieve a goal, don’t psych yourself out of doing it. Just take a deep breath and give it a try.

If you don’t, you’ve already failed.

[photo courtesy of Mattox]

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