brave // movie review

I know. It's been a little while. Actually a long while. But I'm still here. I'm just mega-busy with life. :D

But I wanted to post this for a specific reason...I went to see Brave in 3D yesterday with my family. Pretty awesome. And I wanted to review it to give y'all my opinion on Pixar's awesome new film.

So here we are...

Having watched most of Pixar's films, I'm a huuuuge fan. They (almost. Walle's my 1 exception) always seem to add a perfect amount of seriousness with a perfect amount of humor. Plus they're animated. And I LOVE animated movies. :D

Brave is the first Pixar film in which there is a princess. And it's also the first Disney princess film in which there isn't a prince.

So let me introduce you to Princess Merida:

Let me just put it like this. She rocks. She's an archer; she has triplet brothers; and she has red hair. How can you go wrong?

But Merida hates her fate. Very soon she's going to have to be betrothed. And all that will do it take away her freedom, in her opinion.

Her well-respected mother, Queen Elinor trys to make a proper lady of Merida. But Merida is convinced that Elinor is trying to live Merida's life for her. And the princess hates it.

 So when the time comes when she'll have to pick her future husband, she runs. And she and her horse find a witches cottage where Merida thinks she may have found a solution to her problem.

But the witch doesn't mention one of the side-effects of her potion...

And everything goes downhill from there.

It's a very cute movie. But, honestly, for a Pixar film, it gets rather dark. If you've watched the trailer, you'll know there are bears involved. And even animated, these bears are terrifying. I know my brother would've been scared to death. So if anyone in your family was scared by Tangled, Brave is probably not for them.

However, there was some pretty clever humor in it, provided mostly by these three. I have to say, the triplets are the best characters in the movie, by far. They're cute, and they're very clever (especially for people so small. :D) 

So of the humor wasn't quite so nice, though. You know, bathroom humor and stuff. All of it wasn't really necessary, but at least since it's animated, they can still pass it off as PG.

All in all, *very* cute movie. At times it was scary, it even made me cry (yeah, i know. an animated film.), but it was great. 

And the storyline is good too. Because, though Merida is sassy in the beginning, she ends up having to fix her mistake herself. And that was good for her and her family.

I'm gonna give it a ***** out of *****. :)

And know that it's up there with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Cars 2. ;)

~Vivi~

P. S. It has a toddler version of Merida in it that's adorable. So even if you watch it just for that, it'll be worth it. :P

P. P. S. I know I said we saw it in 3D, but just FYI, the 3D doesn't add very much. So I'd probably just go 2D if I went again. ;)

that awkward moment...

...when you realize that every single one of your friends that has taken the quiz you made turned out to be most like YOU. Seriously. This is sad.

And since YOU happened to make the quiz in the first place...

Oh, dear. :P

Well, apparently it's not as accurate as I thought it was. Not that y'all *aren't* like me, it's just 6 people in a row turning up to be most like me is a little...unexpected. :D

So...sorry! ;) Maybe in a couple years I'll make another one that's not so...biased (for lack of a better word :). But you had fun...right? So that's all that matters. :D

feel like takin' another quiz?? :P

Yeah, I made another Coulter sister quiz...:) Sorry, I just have way too much fun with them.

You might remember this quiz that Gab and I made a couple years back (under the names HerMajesty (gab), MissVivi (me), JooJoo (annette), and SillyGal (josie)). It wasn't that accurate...so I decided to make a new and updated version. :) So now *you* can know which Coulter sister you are most like.

I'd take it and show you the results, but I know I'd just be me. And it wouldn't be any fun. :D So I want you to go take it and tell me who you get in the comments (especially if you get me :P). 

So please. Waste 15 minutes of your time to find out which sister you're most like. :P 

(if you really do have school to do, then it's actually probably best that you don't waste you time...right now...wait till later and then waste your time. :D)

Which Coulter sister are you most like?

There we go. :)

 Love,

~Vivi~

prom pictures. :)

So I put together this video of our prom photo shoot this morning. :) Gab and I went together with my friend, Hannah. It was yesterday night, and my ankles and shins are still aching. 

But it was awesome. Hope you like it!

(5 brownie points if you know what movie our 'princess waving' is from)

that orange UVA hat...:D

It's Bug's favorite thing to wear. And so, it only seemed right that, for his birthday this past Sunday, we make him a baseball cake.
Yes, our little baby bug had his 3rd birthday. Here are some great pictures to sum him and his special day up. :)

aren't his eyes *lovely*?

sorry, had to 'erase' his name that we put on the rim. that's why it looks foggy in all the hat pictures. :D

notice Gab and mom's scared looks when i hit the pinata. :D

The little blonde girl is 'A' from Pure Joy. We had their family over for his 'party'. :)

please excuse how weird i look in all of them.
And Gab and I were all fancied up because we went to the swim team banquet before. :)

I think he had a wonderful birthday. :) Happy late birthday again, Bug!! I can't believe you're 3. 

oh, how productive my day has been...

I've managed to wake up,

go to practice,

eat breakfast,

do my chores,

and get done 0% of the homework I need to.

I'll blame it on the fact that I'm sick. It's nice to have an excuse. Only, excuses won't really get me out of the mess I'll be in on Monday, when I'll wake up to a full week of more than 1 subject.

And it's not really nice that I actually am sick. With this awful cough-y, sore throat-y, stuffy nose-y, ache-y virus. Plus 4 days in a row of swim practice after 2 weeks off isn't really helping.

Oh, well.

At least it's Friday.

A picture for your entertainment. Feel free to make up any story behind it...

Hope y'all have a lovely Easter Friday!

if you look at the downside, you'd mention this is 2 weeks later...

...but look at the bright side! (that I'm posting at all :P)

I wish I could say that I have a perfectly logical, understandable, and acceptable explanation for my absence...such as:

"I've been so incredibly busy that I haven't been on my laptop for a whole 2 weeks!"

or

"All my free time has been spent in prayer, fasting, and folding laundry in preparation for Holy Week and Easter"

or

"I've written like 5 different posts with tons of pictures, I just haven't had time to post them" (which is stupid, because pushing the 'publish' button takes about 2 seconds)

...but, alas (as they always say in books), my real reasons are not quite so noble. :D

The main reason was that I was too lazy to think up a post. My life was interesting enough...but who really wants to read about how I got new silver sparkly sandals from Target??

(that actually is true. And in case you're one of the few people that *does* care about that (yes, that's actually correct grammar. Gab would be proud. :P), here's what they look like)

I was too busy relaxing, sleeping in, and playing Draw Something on my iPod (this game is addicting. please get it and find my by typing in my username 'vivi coulter' :D). Oh yeah, plus I'm reading THG. Again. (desperate times call for desperate measures...)

But here I am! Back into swimming, school, orchestra, and normal busy life. And I LOVE IT. :) I don't care for school much (I just want that to be done), but I like my normal routine...know what's going on, and what'll happen each day. And lounging on the couch is not part of it. Plus I realized how much I missed swimming. You go for two weeks without exercising (except one time that left me sore for days), and you'd miss it too. ;)

Easter was awesome. Still is. After all, it's gonna be Easter for the next...what, 50 days? Don't you love how you even have an extra ten days to make up for all that lost sweet-eating time in Lent? *sigh* Life is good.

In case you're interested in stuff like this, here are a couple Easter-y pictures for you. Starting right before Easter Vigil when we ran outside and had a messy photo shoot. ;)

(the weird stuff that happens after the 4th photo)
(pretend Josie has her eyes open)

chocolate-covered peeps. who knew, right?

i had to get the bunny out. i mean, it was kinda his special day...(p. s. if you have yet to learn his name, check here for an intro)

We went to the baseball game to cheer on the hoos (he had too much popcorn, apparently. it does things to ya...).

(5 brownie points if you can find his football egg! :D)

(um. yeah.)

Anyway, we had a fantastic Easter Day. I can only hope that the next 46 days are half that good. :)

Christ is Risen! PRAISE THE LORD.

How was your Easter? How many jelly beans did you eat? (be honest. I'll answer first and say I didn't count, and I don't think any of us really want to know. I'm just hoping that they'll get swum off in the next...month maybe?)

the hunger games: movie review

I said it was probably coming. After all, how could I *not* review this movie...:)

So, here it goes...

THE HUNGER GAMES

based on the book "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

The movie stays pretty close to the book, so I'm not gonna summarize it (you can read my other review summary). With a couple minor differences, and a couple deleted characters, and a couple tweaked situations, they still managed to satisfy fans of "The Hunger Games", which is pretty amazing, if you think about it.

There are a couple actors/actresses that really *really* amazed me in their portrayal of their characters, and a couple that fell flat for me. Let me show you...

I was totally impressed with...

GALE. I've always been a big Gale fan, so I was thrilled to have some one play him who actually does an awesome job. Gale doesn't really have that much of a part in book 1 of the trilogy...but when he did act, he did awesome. He's not exactly what I imagined Gale like...he's even better. :D 'Cause for some reason, characters that I imagine never completely take form until I can see an actual picture.

HAYMITCH. Kind of surprisingly, actually. When I first saw a picture of this character, you could say I was shocked. That was *not* what I imagined Haymitch to look like. I guess I thought he'd be huge, old, and bald. But now that I've gotten used to it, I can see that Woody Harrelson is actually *perfect*. And, in the movie he provides some comic relief (which is nice), along with another awesome character...

EFFIE! (you almost have to exclaim her name) She was awesome. The clips that I had seen with her were a little strange, so I was skeptical. I guess she just seemed a little young, a little too tame, and just...weird. But, her prissy Capitol notions are hilarious in the movie. And once pass the reaping, she little comments in different situations are just so cute. Like after Katniss pushes Peeta down she looks at her and just say "Manners!". :) Elizabeth Banks is a lot better than I thought she'd be as little Effie Trinket...

SENECA. So he's not in the first book. But I think it was smart to put him in, 'cause it gives people someone else to look forward too, plus he's supposed to be the Head Gamemaker anyway. The beard was *awesome*. And the character was too. I mean, he was a total Capitol guy...but then near the end you could tell that for him, the games weren't completely about killing off kids. And y'all know where that got him...

CATO. Big, strong, awful, vicious Cato. Wow. He was absolutely perfect. First of all, he's huge...like seriously, he's gotta be the biggest guy in the film. And his facial expressions are just totally perfect for someone as blood-thirsty as Cato. With blood all over his face, he's even creepier. Alexander Ludwig, who would not have been a perfect Peeta (he did audition for that part), is absolutely horrifyingly perfect as Cato...

So those are some of the characters I was most impressed with. Along with them came Rue, Clove, and Prim. They were pretty awesome too...

But then there were those who I didn't care for too much...unfortunately, including Peeta. Maybe it's just that I've always preferred Gale, but not only does Josh Hutcherson not do Peeta justice, he also doesn't look him. That'll probably forever bother me. :D

But...as for content. It was pretty impressive. The Capitol was amazing, and the Seam was great too. The Games were awfully short...and the tributes weren't developed well because of that. Of course, in the book they weren't either...but I guess when Katniss is narrating everything, you get a little more thinking about the tributes...

For stuff to watch out for:

Since it's a sorta violent book, there definitely is some violence here too. Blood splattering, ugly wounds, and that gruesome tracker jacker scene. If you remember the book, you'll know Glimmer got distorted. But the movie will give 'distorted' a whole new meaning...pretty gross.

There's only 1 true kiss. But it's a pretty long one. But then, the book has way more...(betcha some people are disappointed)...

And then, this is sorta a con, the cinematographer was...kinda crazy. The weird angles sometimes made it hard to know what was going on. Or they just made your eyes go weird.

So it wasn't an exact replica of the book, definitely. Everything was kinda compacted together (what else to do you do in a movie??) to take as little time as possible. And you can't really see someone getting dehydrated. But they did an awesome job with what they had.

Definitely a movie I would recommend you go see...but ONLY IF YOU'VE READ THE BOOK. :D

I give it ***** out of ***** stars. :)

P. S. If you *haven't* read the book, and you go see the movie anyway, just FYI, don't start Catching Fire when you get home. Read The Hunger Games first...or you won't know what's going on in the next book.)

that awesome travel meet...

And so here it is: the swim meet in South Carolina aka YMCA Regional Meet.

Sorry for so few and such blurry pictures, but it's all Dad got since he wasn't there very long. (I don't know if I told y'all, but Mom and Dad actually drove all the way down to SC on Saturday to get us to Mass on Sunday morning...'cause no matter how you put it, Jesus always comes before swimming...)

The awesome thing was, we were ready to miss our first events on Sunday morning to get to Mass, but we didn't have to! We got there; we changed; and I got behind the blocks pretty much just as the heat in front of me was going. God rocks, doesn't he? :D

(you can't really see it, but I think I'm in a far lane swimming breast stroke...)

(Gab and one of our coaches talking...)

(Me and other people cheering...)

But...we left on Thursday, had a very long and loud bus trip, got to the hotel around 9, and went pretty much straight to bed.

The next few days were (1) wake up, (2) eat breakfast, (3) go to prelims, (4) eat lunch, (5) take a nap, (6) social time :P, (7) go back to the pool for finals, (8) eat dinner, (9) go to bed.

And then do it all over again.

Our team won out of 40-something teams! So that was awesome.

My best place was probably like 16th. But I improved in 6 out of my 7 events. (200 IM, 400 IM, 100 breast stroke, 200 breast stroke, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free...the 500 being the only thing I didn't improve in)

And, though the bus trips were long, it was still fun to travel as a team. :D

Overall, I had an awesome time that weekend. I would totally want to do it again...:D

because they're awesome...

...and because I'm such a huge Cimorelli fan...

...and because this is such a cute video...

...and because this song is now in my head...

...and because I feel colorful right now...

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

P. S. I went to The Hunger Games last night! It was a totally last minute thing...as in, Mom told me that morning that my parents had decided it was fine for us to go (thank you, plugged-in). And then we got tickets. And we went last night at 9:30. And it was awesome. Thank you, wonderful parents!

(oh, and watch for a review. don't worry, I'll warn you if I give spoilers...:D)

in honor of the movie coming out this friday...

I thought I'd post a book review. Not a rave. A book *review*.

So that if you decide you want to go see the movie, but want to read the book first, you know what you're up against.

(P. S. DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE WITHOUT READING THE BOOK. I can't stand it when people do that...Plus, as much as I know I'll love the movie, the book will *always* be better than the movie.)

So. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Let's start, shall we?

Here's the basic plot summary, in my own words (and without giving too much away):

It all takes place in a post-acopalytic world called Panem. There are 12 districts, and 1 Capitol that rules them. The President rules the districts from a mansion in the Capitol. And, as the consequences of a rebellion that happened 74 years ago, the districts are forced to participate in an annual 'Hunger Games', where 1 girl and 1 boy between 12 and 18 from each of the 12 districts will be chosen to fight to the death in an arena, while all the citizens of Panem are forced to watch and pretend it's all a game for their entertainment.

The heroine's name is Katniss Everdeen. She lives in District 12 with her Mom and sister (who she loves more than anyone else in the world). And when her sister, Prim, gets chosen in 'The Reaping' to go fight in the games, Katniss volunteers to go instead.

So the first book in the trilogy, "The Hunger Games", follows Katniss and the 74th annual Games.

I can't give that much more without giving a lot away. But those are the basics that you'll get in the first 1 or 2 chapters.

Now...first the pros:

Katniss is an awesome sister.

In a world where going to the games means almost-certain-death, volunteering to fight for her sister is something only an awesome sister would do. In the words of the book, "Family devotion only goes so far for most people on reaping day. What I did was the radical thing". (yes, it's in 1st person. :)

It's all portrayed as 'this is so wrong'.

Since Katniss is not a citizen of the Capitol, she knows better than to treat the games like entertainment. Only the foolish Capitol people think like that. Almost everyone in the districts hate the Games. So the ruthless killing of teenagers is portrayed just like that--wrong. It's an awful scenario, really. And that's how it's shown...

There are some really sweet characters

Though Katniss isn't all warm and nice, there are some awesome great people in this book. Including Prim. And others. That I won't mention so I won't give anyway. :) (read it!!)

Now for the cons...:(

It is kinda violent

So this book doesn't go into that much graphic detail and stuff, but then...if you're talking about teenagers killing each other there's gonna be plenty of violence. And the people in charge of the Games, the 'Gamemakers', like awful or 'exciting' deaths. And it's a morbid thought...that they'd have it all for entertainment...

So there is some nudity...

In the book, yes, there is. When Katniss has to get ready for interviews, entrances, etc. she doesn't normally have clothes on. And other characters don't normally mind naked people...but actually, Katniss does some. So that's nice. :)

Nothing Christian at all

You know how in Harry Potter there's kind of a trace of Christianity?? Well this book has even less. You could say that religion is no part of this book whatsoever. When something good happens, no one gets thanked for it. When something bad happens, you don't pray for something better. So no, I don't think this is a very faith-based book...

And, of course, it's obsessive. :P

It's probably a con, right? If you're reading this book, you can't expect to get much done. Or at least, you can expect to have some very late nights reading in bed. But you usually finish it so fast that you don't have time to get *too* behind on school...:D

So. Fascinating book, overall. Very impressive. But...

I'd say, everything considered, this book is probably appropriate for 14+. (I know that sounds weird coming from a 14-year-old, but...) 'Cause, though it may be really interesting, I just don't know that it's really great for a 10-year-old to be reading that sorta stuff...and it kind of bothers me when there are those crazy-obsessed 11-year-olds dancing around saying how they can't *wait* for the movie to come out.

Definitely run it by your parents first, especially if you're under 14...'cause it's a great book, but it's just not an 'everyone-can-read-it-and-will-love-it' book. Plus if it'll bother you to read about teenagers killing each other, probably a good idea to stay away from it too...

So, there we go!

I give it overall...

*****(***********...) out of ***** stars. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Love,

~Vivi~

i think i'm obsessed...

Comes out Friday! Are you excited??

happy birthday, josie!

(...and yes! I'm back! I'll do a post later on the meet, probably, but for now...we have another birthday...)

Happy Birthday, Josie!

Hope you have an awesome day. :) Can't believe you're already 10...

Jazzy (hahaha...)

One-of-a-kind

Silly (often without realizing it)

Interesting

Entertaining

Love ya, girl!

~Vivi~