Take Your Pills (Or Don't)

As a student, I’ve always wanted a magic fix to get more focus. I can’t remember a time when I was focused enough to get a task done with no long breaks. In Netflix’s Take Your Pills, the effects of Adderall are explored and discussed by students, medical professionals, and many other users of the drug. Most of those interviewed for the film highlighted the best effects they had experienced, most notably in the college students. They all praise the heightened focus they achieved while using this stimulant. However, throughout the majority of the hour and a half long show, there was barely any mention of any negative effects. Because large doses of Adderall are so widely used by people without a prescription, there surely has to be tragic abuse stories. Take Your Pills, however, does not find the negative effects to be important enough to analyze.

Based on my own experience, I can understand the attraction to a performance-enhancing drug such as this amphetamine. My friends and I groan even at the thought of having to focus on a single long-term assignment. Empathizing with the students in the documentary was easy for me. Though I had never felt it myself, I could imagine the gratification of getting daunting schoolwork done without any distraction. Yet the fact that they use a drug that some may have gotten illegally to get work done is troubling. It is hard to believe that focus extreme enough to last for hours on end wouldn’t cause any noticeable side effects. Take Your Pills frames this drug use, or abuse, as a nearly inconsequential aspect of many students’ lives. After a bit of research, I found that Adderall can have similar effects to cocaine, though not as strong. The negative effects can include “Fatigue, Feelings of depression and lethargy, Increased irritability, [and] Decreased ability to concentrate” (Patterson). The final symptom would be especially concerning to the user, as the amphetamine is supposed to increase concentration. It may not have been intentional, but the lack of this information makes the Netflix original seem extremely pro-Adderall despite the cases of abuse shown in the film.

Though Adderall is known to help those diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, the number of people who abuse the drug should be concerning enough for some action to be made. However, Take Your Pills seems to dismiss the fact that drug abuse is growing among young adults today. The film makes this prescription drug seem like the solution teachers want to focus their students. But do schools really want this? There are many side effects and consequences of such an intense high that are barely touched in this Netflix original that should be addressed.

“The Effects of Adderall Use.” Edited by Eric Patterson, DrugAbuse.com, 26 Oct. 2017,

drugabuse.com/library/the-effects-of-adderall-use/.

Klayman, Alison, director. Take Your Pills. Netflix, 2018.

Stranger Things

I’m extremely late to the party on this one- but I just watched Stranger Things for the first time Saturday afternoon. My twelve year old sister is obsessed and has been begging me to start the series for months now. I finally agreed to sit down and watch it with her, and I hate to admit that I kind of enjoyed it. First of all, I love the 1980’s and any show that is set in the ‘80s is right up my alley.

Since the show is set in the ‘80s it has a very nostalgic feel to it, with extremely dark and futuristic undertones. The futuristic characteristics with eleven and the others don’t seem to blend particularly well with the time period. I also feel like though if it was placed in a different time period the characters would be asking a lot more questions sooner. In the 1980’s people had more of a mask of innocence that nothing bad would ever happen to them or their families. They would never think of anything futuristic as well. If this show was placed in the present I feel as if the characters would be more attuned to the possibilities of scientific creativity. So the writers were probably exactly right to place this show in the time period that they did.

Placing the show in a small midwestern town is also very cliche. Obviously, they don’t have the police force or the capabilities to do the types of investigations that are needed when a child goes missing. This is typical I feel like for these types of shows. Will’s mom is obviously going insane about her son disappearing out of thin air, and the cops really treat her like she’s overreacting at first. She is completely hysterical about her youngest son going missing and they dismiss her as being crazy initially.

The flashbacks to eleven when she was still in the laboratory has me asking constant questions. Mainly about the older man that seems to be running or in charge of the experiments that are obviously taking place on her. There is obviously so much hurt in her eyes that is kills me everytime they zoom in on her dark brown eyes.

Overall, I think that this was very thoroughly made show that I am looking forward to binge watching the rest of my time here at home. I am excited to keep watching and hopefully have many of my questions answered.

Who Doesn't Love Puberty?

Dear future friend,

Recently, I watched a new Netflix original animated comedy called Big Mouth. It came out last year and only has released one season. This show spares no gross detail as it follows tween characters in middle school as they go through puberty and deal with the many other issues that come with adolescence. Best friends Nick and Andrew navigate through their relationship after going through recent changes, or lack thereof in Nick’s case, and face challenges that include masturbation, sexuality, girls, urges, and hormone monsters. It also presents Nick and Andrew’s female counterparts, Missy and Jessi, and shows their feelings and struggles as they go through similar changes. The gross humor and overall ridiculous attitude of the show makes Big Mouth unique because it is incredibly genuine and sheds light on issues most everyone experienced.

Big Mouth has received a lot of backlash for the types of topics that are depicted in the show and the fact that most all of the main characters are technically children. Children being sexually active in a television show has sparked a lot of controversy. The show is extremely vulgar and crude at times, but in my opinion, it perfectly portrays the reality of puberty. There is no other show in pop culture that is so relatable, transparent, and really tackles this awkward stage of life as well as Big Mouth seems to do. Its brutally honest presentation of puberty through dark humour is what makes this show so effective. Because the characters are animated, this show is not inappropriate and it allows them to push the boundaries of the taboo of sex in today’s society. There are also informative lessons that Big Mouth teaches. They provide insight to how both genders change through puberty along with other important issues such as consent and sexuality. I think that teenagers going through puberty should watch this show and then actively discuss what they learned and asking further questions, therefore triggering healthy conversations about sex. Overall, this is one of the best sex-positive shows of this decade because it addresses the parts of life that no one wants to talk about, and discusses the embarrassing details of puberty that almost anyone could relate to.

I think you should take the time to watch this show because the episodes are only around 20 minutes and if you’re anything like me, you would most likely enjoy this kind of humor. I actually binge-watched this show with my current friends, and we all appreciated the show’s honesty as well as our love for dark humor. It also prompted all of us to share our cringeworthy stories from puberty, which was hilarious to say the least. It was also strange to see how different our backgrounds are, but when it comes to our awkward ages, we all had pretty similar stories. I’m sure that once we become friends, we will share with each other all of those super cringey stories and laugh at our naivety and innocence.

Not Your Typical Diet Show

Dear children,

No matter how many times you ask, no, I am not going to let you watch horror shows while you're still young. My mother didn't let me and don't think anything is going to change just because I'm in charge now. You may be asking why I'm bringing this up, and it's because I recently started binge watching the Netflix Original show Santa Clarita Diet. Now you may be thinking what  horror shows have to do with some cooking show but boy would you be wrong.

Santa Clarita Diet is a comedy-horror tv show, and while it does have comedy aspects I do believe the horror aspects are a little much for what you should be viewing at your age. Overall, the show is about Joel and Shiela Hammond who are married real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California. Sheila ends up becoming a zombie who craves human flesh. The family spends the show trying to accomadate for what Sheila needs (human meat).

Now hear me out, kiddos, as cool as it may sound, this show is NOT for your eyes! The horror aspects within the show are too much to handle (I had to turn away a few times). For starters, in the beginning of the show she is throwing up yellow stuff. Yeah you heard me. Vomit. And not just regular throw up that you get when you're sick. This stuff was all over the walls and the floor, and she even threw up an organ. Now you may have heard me at one point say "I feel like I coughed my lung up". It's kind of like that but not really. Just don't watch the show.

If you're still intrigued in watching Santa Clarita Diet how do you feel about your fingers, huh? If you want to keep them maybe you shouldn't watch it. Sheila eats fingers... and humans... and you're a human. It wasn't just like a "oh she's eating fingers *camera moves away* oh I can't see anything but I know she's still eating fingers" it was a straight on you could see everything. The same thing goes for when she eats anyone or anything and the fact that you know it's a human makes it a lot worse.

In the end, I really just don't think this is a show you should watch. If you want to get scared maybe watch Goosebumps (even though scared me as a kid) or Scooby Doo (don't get me started on The Creeper). Now, if you desperately want to watch the show at least watch it during the day and not right before bed.

Game Over Man

The movie I am discussing this week is a Netflix Original called Game Over man. This movie is an adventure/action comedy. It stars three actors from my favorite tv show called Workaholics. The reason I like this movie so much is because it is very similar to the show, Workaholics. It has very similar humor as Workaholics The main characters are Adam DeVine, Anders Holms, and Blake Anderson. All of these guys created this movie together. Adam DeVine plays Alexxx, he is constantly messing things up in the group during the movie. Anders Holms plays Daren, He prides himself in his good ideas during the movie. He also has a problem with drugs throughout the movie. Blake Anderson plays Joel, he is the smart one of the trio. He is good with technology and creates things that helps them throughout the movie. I like that these characters all have different characteristics that play a huge role in this movie. Another thing that I like about this movie is that is has a lot of very famous people that make short appearances in this movie. Steve-o, Shaggy, Joel McHale, Chris Pontius, Mark Cuban all play themselves in this movie. I like this aspect of the movie because it adds some suspense because you never know who is going to pop up next.

This movie is about three housekeepers who work at a hotel. Joel, Daren, and Alexxx are all lifetime friends. They hate the fact that they are housekeepers at a hotel. They are constantly trying to think of ideas to become rich and famous. I like this part of the movie because it helps them get out of the sticky situation they encounter. During the movie, a famous rapper has a huge party at hotel that Daren, Joel, and Alexx work at. At this party a group of bad guy come to the hotel to force the rapper to give them all the money he has. The bad guys have about 20 to 30 men with guns. They act has security for the rapper, but then they invade the party and hold everyone hostage. The mastermind of this plan was the rapper’s manager. This was a big plot twist in the movie and it caught everyone off guard. Daren, Alexx, and Joel try to take down the bad guys throughout the movie. They encounter many bad guys and get very lucky in many cases of the movie.

This movie is not for everyone. It is a very raunchy comedy that doesn’t have the best reviews. It is definitely not a family friendly movie. I am pretty biased towards this movie because it I really like Adam, Blake and Anders because of Workaholics. This movie has a good mix of action and comedy. It has many unpredictable parts of the movie that kept me wanting to watch it. I like that there is a conflict between the group during the movie and that it is resolved at the end of the movie.

Stand Up

Tom Segura is a stand up comedian, who tells funny and sometimes controversial jokes. He has a few stand ups on Netflix and his most recent is Tom Segura Disgraceful. This stand up is shot at Denver's Paramount Theater. The theater set up a light and dark blue background, that sets the mood for his stand up, but does not take attention away from Tom when he is talking. Tom dresses very casually for this stand up. He wears all black which contrasts well with the background, which also is not too distracting from his jokes. The camera angles do not change that much, that way it is not distracting. When he is building up a joke, the camera will zoom in. As the joke starts to advance the camera will zoom out. It will continue to zoom in and out for the duration of the joke. When a joke finishes with a big punchline, the camera will pan out to the audience to show how much they are enjoying.

This stand up is incredibly raunchy, and very controversial. He uses a lot of swear words and talks about new controversial issues in our society. He talks about how the use of certain words is no longer accepted in our society. He makes a few funny jokes about them and how it is now unacceptable, if you do not like controversial jokes then this stand up might seem offensive.

Tom also talks about how times have changed, where marijuana is now legal in Colorado. He tells a joke about how kids today will no longer understand how dangerous buying marijuana was for people in our time. He talks about his personal experiences with buying marijuana illegally. He makes jokes about his sketchy experiences with it, and about his conversations with his family on the issue. He says that he has driven around with random people to buy marijuana or met up with people that he does not know. This is relatable for people who have had similar experiences as him.

He tells one joke about how his father made him kill a woodpecker because it was messing up their house. He then says that he was at his girlfriends house later that evening for dinner with her parents and he mentioned it to them. He jokes that he did not know his audience at the time. He says this because her parents were conservationists, and they were upset with him killing that bird. It is funny that he talks about knowing his audience, because when you become a comedian you need to know your audience. If you cannot relate to your audience, you will not become a successful comedian. This was probably a valuable learning experience for him before becoming a stand up artist.

I would say this is one of his funnier stand ups. I enjoy controversial stand ups and his jokes throughout this one had great punchlines. His audience also enjoyed his performance.  I would recommend any person who enjoys stand ups, especially those of the raunchier variety to check this one out.

Home Baker

Dear future children,
Nailed It! is a short series, which features home bakers that compete for a $10,000 cash prize. The phrase “nailed it” comes from back in my day, in which people tried to create a cake or baked good from Pinterest or another internet site and failed miserably. After the contestants created their cake, donut, cookie, or other baked good, they turned it around for the judges to see and said: “nailed it!” While they never actually “nailed it,” they were being more sarcastic, which is what most people use the term for when they fail miserably after trying to create a cake from Pinterest.

Now I am a “home baker,” but I have more experience than the contestants chosen for the show, which is why I wouldn’t be allowed to be a contestant. I’ve done cake decorating and baking since I was sixteen, and I hope to still be doing cakes as a small side job and a fun hobby when you, my future children, will be reading this. I hope to make your birthday cakes myself and also continue to take orders from family and friends.

Since I have some knowledge about baking cakes and other goodies, I thought I would enjoy watching this series, but at some points, it was hard to watch as some of the contestants made huge mistakes while baking. A few of the mistakes they made while baking was frosting their still-warm cakes, not cutting out the sugar cookie with their cookie cutter before baking, fill the cake pans way too full, and completely forgetting to use buttercream under their fondant.

Now, I hope to teach you, my future children, a little about baking as you grow up, so here are a few things the contestants did that ruined their cakes and goodies.

Most of the contestants wouldn’t use the cake cooler they had on set. They would try to put buttercream on their warm cakes and expect it to stay on them. Now please excuse me while I get a bit frustrated: the buttercream has butter in it (who would have guessed) and what does butter do when it goes on a warm potato? It melts. So their cakes were kind of droopy and the icing was half melted. Luckily, the show is dedicated to home bakers who don’t really know what they are doing so it’s totally fine when they completely ruin their cakes, plus it makes for great television.

On one of the episodes, the contestants were challenged to make a sugar cookie that looked like them. One of the contestants decided that she didn’t have time to cut out three sugar cookies from her dough, so she was going to cut it out after the dough was baked. By doing this, the cookie didn’t look as nice; it didn’t have crisp, clean edges like it would have if the dough was cut before it all baked together. The dough also took a lot longer to bake, which cost her more time.

This also ties together with many contestants who wanted their cakes to be thick cakes, so they filled their pans pretty full. What they should have done would have been to bake more thin layers, this way the cakes would bake A LOT faster and not overflow. One contestant filled her cake pans so full the cake was still runny in the middle and she was running out of time. I have to give her kudos, though. She didn’t let that stop her from creating a cake- she grabbed some rice crispy treats from the ingredient pantry and used that as her cake and placed what little cake was baked from her pan on top, then decorated it. Rice crispies are used as bases for cakes when they need structure, like in a really tall cake or a sculpted one, so it wasn’t too crazy of an idea.

On a few of the cakes the contestants were challenged to create, they would have to use fondant. They, of course, had recipes to follow and plenty of times they completely skipped over a step in making the cake or assembling it. This is understandable, though since they were being timed and didn’t really know how to do everything. One contestant didn’t make buttercream to go under his fondant, so when he tried to get his fondant to basically lay on his cake, which was the shoulders of Trump, it slid off. Fondant needs a glue to stick to since it isn’t able to stick to something alone.

To my future children, I hope you enjoy baking as much as I do, and I hope I am able to teach you some tips and tricks as I raise you to be your own people.
Love, your future mommy

Fun for the Family: Skylanders Academy Episode 1

Skylanders Academy is a show on Netflix based on the toys-to-life franchise Skylanders. In the Netflix series, we follow Spyro the dragon as he tries to conquer his ego and stop Kaos from taking over Skylands. The show with very bright and colorful, taking animation style form the video games. However, the timeline of events is rather different with Spyro being a later addition to the team instead of one of the founding members. However it does seem to take a lot of the characters personalities from the video games.
The Skylanders games, Spyro is rather self-centered an conceited. Being for children, the show uses this as an opportunity to teach about the power of teamwork. This is the standard of  kid’s television, I was not shocked to see that this was the route they decided to go with, nor was I shocked to see his friends Eruptor and Stealth Elf stay out of trouble. Most of the time, the friends are used to create contrast from the main character. Eon is also on par for what I would expect. As a father figure, he can’t condone Spyro's negative behavior, but the viewer can see how it pains him to punish the young dragon that he has know since infancy. Kaos and Glum shanks also work really well for me. In the videogames, they were rather comedic and there is still that element in their personalities. However I am glad to see Kaos be more serious villain. The scene where he beats  Spyro with The Book of Skylanders is unexpectedly dark, it might send shivers down the spines of some of the parents watching the show with their children.
Speaking of the parents, they too will be able to enjoy Skylanders Academy. It has many inside jokes to common ideas in television. There is a scene where Spyro gets news that his friends have been frozen. At first, his response is to simply shout “What,” but then he decides to redo it, first taking a large swig of his drink, spitting it to once he gets the news, and then shouting “What.” The guy he was with says that the spitting made it a lot more effective. This is a reference to the fact that characters will spit out drinks to show the fact that they are shocked, which also makes the people watching laugh because the character made a mess. The fact that the show points it out will seem humorous to the adults who are constantly seeing this play out. This is just one the many jokes in the show that grown-ups will appreciate.
I think that Skylanders Academy is good show for older children and families to watch because everyone has something to gain by watching it. Children get to learn a lesson by watching colorful characters and adults get to see the nuances the creators hide. Some, for instance, may find a comparison between Kaos and the title alien in Invader Zim, especially since they have the same voice actor. All in all, I really like Skyanders Academy.
 is a show on Netflix based on the toys-to-liife franchise Skylanders. In the Netflix series, we follow Spyro the dragon as he tries to conquer his ego and stop Kaos from taking over Skylands. The show with very bright and colorful, taking animation style form the video games. However, the timeline of events is rather different with Spyro being a later addition to the team instead of one of the founding members. However it does seem to take a lot of the characters personalities from the video games.
The Skylanders games, Spyro is rather self-centered an conceited. Being for children, the show uses this as an opportunity to teach about the power of teamwork. This is the standard of  kid’s television, I was not shocked to see that this was the route they decided to go with, nor was I shocked to see his friends Eruptor and Stealth Elf stay out of trouble. Most of the time, the friends are used to create contrast from the main character. Eon is also on par for what I would expect. As a father figure, he can’t condone Spyro's negative behavior, but the viewer can see how it pains him to punish the young dragon that he has know since infancy. Kaos and Glum shanks also work really well for me. In the videogames, they were rather comedic and there is still that element in their personalities. However I am glad to see Kaos be more serious villain. The scene where he beats  Spyro with The Book of Skylanders is unexpectedly dark, it might send shivers down the spines of some of the parents watching the show with their children.
Speaking of the parents, they too will be able to enjoy Skylanders Academy. It has many inside jokes to common ideas in television. There is a scene where Spyro gets news that his friends have been frozen. At first, his response is to simply shout “What,” but then he decides to redo it, first taking a large swig of his drink, spitting it to once he gets the news, and then shouting “What.” The guy he was with says that the spitting made it a lot more effective. This is a reference to the fact that characters will spit out drinks to show the fact that they are shocked, which also makes the people watching laugh because the character made a mess. The fact that the show points it out will seem humorous to the adults who are constantly seeing this play out. This is just one the many jokes in the show that grown-ups will appreciate.
I think that Skylanders Academy is good show for older children and families to watch because everyone has something to gain by watching it. Children get to learn a lesson by watching colorful characters and adults get to see the nuances the creators hide. Some, for instance, may find a comparison between Kaos and the title alien in Invader Zim, especially since they have the same voice actor. All in all, I really like Skyanders Academy.

To Build A Home

Since I was in elementary school, I have always been intrigued by architecture. I loved the creativity that went into building the perfect structure as well as the thought of functionality for the building. Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin explore these thoughts in various places around the world in Netflix’s The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. Each episode, they choose a location, or type of location, and visit the most innovative homes they can find. In episode one, they visit houses in the mountains around the world.

As I watched, I noticed that a very challenging aspect of architecture is the consideration of the environment. As I am inexperienced in the world of architecture, I never considered how the aesthetics of the house may disrupt its surroundings. For example, the desert home in Arizona showcased in the first episode, both Piers, a real live architect, and the home’s owners note how the plain yet natural exterior of the house don’t disturb the desert around it. The designers of the house preserved all the life around the secluded building as to not create an eyesore. As western society grows more and more industrial, we often forget about the natural beauty of the world. A wide expanse of mountains is a sight to see only in movies or on vacation. However, with homes such as those in The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes, we see that nature can still be appreciated through careful architectural planning. Buildings can blend seamlessly within a beautiful environment from the inside to the outside.

Natural lighting throughout the building is also a crucial element of a home I never thought about when fantasizing about my dream home. When the hosts of this Netflix original visit the home in New Zealand, Piers explains how light can flood into a building without many windows to work with. Consideration of the most desirable view and weather are crucial to letting in sunlight. Weather determines how much light is let into the space and the view vs position of the sun determines the angles at which the sun comes in. Though houses today tend to make a bold statement with their design, it’s refreshing to find a home that flows into the nature around it through lighting.

The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes has made me think about how my dream house would be designed. This episode specifically has strengthened my desire to live in the mountains as I grow old, hopefully with someone I love. I would love to share a true feat of architecture with someone one day. The house of our dreams would be designed with the environment in mind so we could blend in with the mountain. To build a home with this intention is not a new idea, but one we all should take into consideration.

“Mountains”, The World's Most Extraordinary Homes, Wall to Wall Television, Netflix, Jan 6, 2017.

The World's Most Extraordinary Homes: A visual marvel at some of the world's most expensive houses

     The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes is an incredible reality TV series. There is no plot, no conflict, just watching two British people travel around the world to some of the most remote locations to visit these house that cost millions and millions of dollars. Some of these houses are ridiculous in shape, color, size, everything. To see what some people can do with the amount of money that they have is astonishing.

      The first house that they show in the first episode “Mountain” is crazy. The roof of the house is made out of old wings of a 747. This at first seemed like a really bad idea, because plane parts all over the place on top of a mountain? That could make other planes flying over think it was a downed plane, and the owner had to get it approved with the U.S air force just to use those parts. Also, all parts of the house were airlifted to the top of the mountain, which in of itself is a massive cost (“Mountain”).

     In the next episode, “Forest”, the hosts go to a house that, instead of taking down the trees on the building site to make room for the house, the architect instead built the house around the trees. This led to the house looking absolutely absurd, with so many twists and turns. Some of the trees are as close as six inches away from the house. (“Forest”). This seems like a cool idea at first, but what will happen if there is a storm? The trees may get struck by lightning and fall onto the house, destroying the multi-million dollar work of the architect. If you have that much money though it may not really matter it seems.

     The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes is so worth watching. Though there is really no “show” and it is more just looking at how cool these houses and their views are, it creates a relaxing feeling. There is no thought that has to go into this show, as it very much achieves exactly what the title says, to look at cool houses.








Works Cited:

“Forest.” The World's Most Extraordinary Homes, season 1, episode 2,

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087yy47.




“Mountain.” The World's Most Extraordinary Homes, season 1, episode 2,

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087yy47.





“The World's Most Extraordinary Homes.” Netflix Official Site, Netflix, 5 Mar. 2018,

www.netflix.com/title/80213025.

Is The Game Really Over?

Game Over, Man Is a brand new Netflix Original show, featuring the cast of hit TV show Workaholics. The film follows a group of friends, that have a housekeeping job at a hotel. The average work day is compromised when a group of skilled mercenaries hold the hotel hostage, in return for 500 million dollars. The group of friends, in a hilarious sequence of events, attempt to bring down this mercenary group. Game Over, Man is a non stop thrill ride that will leave you laughing in tears.

The biggest thing that drew me to this movie was the cast. As a huge long time fan of Workaholics, I knew that this movie would have similar taste. The fact of it having similar taste, is why it drew me to watch the film. The trailer appeared on Netflix a few weeks ago, and I watched it numerous times. I knew that as soon as this movie came out, I would have to watch it. The movie was very similar to the show they star in, which made it very relatable. The thing that I found enjoyable, was they played very similar roles to themselves in Workaholics. But, an issue with playing similar roles, is that it is hard to contrast the two different characters. For instance, I was only able to see “Blake” from Workaholics instead of “Joel” in Game Over, Man.

The comedy of the movie was hilarious. I found myself laughing more at this film, than any other film I have watched recently. The style of the comedy is very risque. It is a type of comedy that is more dark and not suited for everyone. For example, there is a severed penis that is thrown at a character in the film. This is a style of comedy that I particularly enjoy. Aside from the darkness of comedy this movie had to offer, the comedic side also had incredible one-liners and dialogue that will leave your gut busted.

One thing that I wished the movie had, was a stronger developed story. The reasoning of this statement, is that the film is only one night. The movie starts with the group cleaning rooms, and then the plot starts from there, almost immediately. The movie didn’t take place anywhere else, but the hotel. This leads to a story that is underdeveloped. This left the movie ending not being as impactful, because of the lack of character development alone. In my opinion, better character and story development would have added to the impact this movie had. This could have made it a fantastic film instead of a good movie.

Game Over, Man is another example of the great work put out in Netflix’s Originals. The comedy was fluent of laughs and the plot was something unique. This is a film that I would recommend to all of my friends (and already have). After watching this film, I hope to see this cast in a future Netflix Original comedy. Game Over, Man is a film worth watching.

Love ain't Easy

To my future spouse,

I recently watched the Netflix original series Easy and found it quite interesting. The show focuses on relationships between characters centered in Chicago. Easy episode is a stand alone where a few characters may cross over between episodes, but, in general, they are not connected. I found this to be an interesting premise, but what really grabbed my attention in the show was the in depth and out of the norm way it discussed relationships, both romantic and others.

The show covers a variety of topics: a dying sex life, a husband hiding his passion from his wife, a wife who cheats, a girlfriend fighting to be supportive, a couple seeking to make their relationship more interesting with a threesome, women struggling with aging, and many more topics. All of these stem from one major theme, though, relationships. I have long believed that relationships and characters are the most important parts of any story, so I especially enjoyed this show.

As you are my future spouse, I would like to point out a few important things I learned from Easy. First, being open and allowing your relationship to adapt and change is vitally important. People and the world around them are in constant flux, and expected relationships to not change as well is a set up for failure. I am quite certain I will be very different at the time you are reading this, and I imagine you have changed as well, so why expect relationships to not change. Secondly, in the show people often faced difficulty when they were not communicating. This is another must of our relationship. I often may come across as stubborn, pompous, or deaf to your comments. This is not often the case, but telling me and putting me back in my place is something you should not hesitate to do. I will not be offended. Finally, one thing I have seen in both my life and on Easy is that if a relationship is not working, it is okay to leave. As a child of divorce, I am well aware that sometimes situations and people change (as mentioned earlier), therefore it is okay if relationships end. I am not saying one should not try to save a relationship, but there is a point where there is too much that would have to change. I think these three things are vital to a relationship and I was pondering them while watching Easy.

The first episode of Easy follows a couple struggling to renew their long dying sex life. The couple’s story is renewed in the second season as well. Their story, though, discusses the things I mentioned earlier. First, the couple is open to change. In the second season they actually open their marriage; allowing for them to fulfill needs they no longer can together, and strengthen the areas of their relationship where they excel. While I am not personally a fan of open relationships, I find their ability to adapt their relationship to what they personally needed and felt comfortable with to be inspiring. Secondly, the couple was very good at communication. They were constantly in dialogue with one another, whether it be in counseling or in bed before going to sleep. While the couple never ended their relationship, they still meant the final point as well. This stems from they were aware and willing to adapt and fix the areas of the relationship that needed improvement. They were aware that their relationship could end, but instead decided it didn’t need to.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the Netflix original Easy. I hope that these qualities of a good relationship I picked up hold over time; I imagine they will. Also, future spouse, I hope we can watch this show together, so you can tell me what I missed and understand the things I learned from this show.