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Inglourious Basterds (2009) Film Review
Read More: Inglourious Basterds (2009) Film ReviewInglourious Basterds is not a war film. It doesn’t pretend to be responsible, educational, or historically faithful. And that’s exactly why it works. Quentin Tarantino isn’t interested in accuracy, he’s interested in emotional revenge. His favorite trope. This is a film about power, humiliation, storytelling, and what it feels like to watch evil finally lose control.…
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The Messy, Beautiful, and Confusing First Year of Becoming Muslim
Read More: The Messy, Beautiful, and Confusing First Year of Becoming MuslimFor my one-year anniversary of becoming Muslim, I figured I’d finally sit down and write about what this first year has actually been like. I’m currently bored out of my mind in a cabin in the mountains of South Carolina, pregnant and feeling like this baby in my belly is about to arrive at any…
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Bedridden and Playing One of My Comfort Games: The Sims
Read More: Bedridden and Playing One of My Comfort Games: The SimsI’m home all day. I’m a SAHW who doesn’t work. I’m alone most of the day, stuck in bed, puking my brains out and trying to pass time between waves of nausea. There really wasn’t much else I could do. I even binged the entire Marvel Universe in just a few days💀 I couldn’t go…
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What Led Me to Islam: Trauma, Solitude, and a Turning Point
Read More: What Led Me to Islam: Trauma, Solitude, and a Turning PointI came to Islam during one of the lowest points in my life. During the COVID lockdown, everything slowed down. I didn’t realize how much I had been distracting myself until I couldn’t anymore. Having more time on your hands can make you think about your past more than you want to. All the trauma…
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Sisters, Growing Pains, and Finding Our Own Homes
Read More: Sisters, Growing Pains, and Finding Our Own HomesLately, I’ve been thinking a lot about sisterhood, and how strange it feels when the people you once shared every corner of your life with suddenly aren’t under the same roof anymore. Three sisters, all creatives, all with the same slightly dramatic, slightly introverted, deeply imaginative personalities. Growing up in a home where our relationship…
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The Message (1976) Film Review
Read More: The Message (1976) Film ReviewI just finished watching The Message earlier this morning, and I wasn’t expecting it to hit me the way it did. I’m currently up in the woods in North Carolina at a cabin with my husband and he recommended we watch it together since I’ve never seen it. He recommends it to me, and I…
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The Hidden Hierarchies of Workplace Favoritism
Read More: The Hidden Hierarchies of Workplace FavoritismFrom the outside, Spectra Baby USA looked like a dream workplace. The owner was insanely wealthy and incredibly generous on paper, she handed out brand-new cars for “Employee of the Year,” hosted holiday parties in and outside of work, gave out free VIP concert tickets, and sponsored fun runs and social events. To anyone looking…
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Scarface (1983) – My Film Review
Read More: Scarface (1983) – My Film ReviewI’m not usually a fan of violent or crime-related films. I’m actually anti-violence unless it’s in the context of fighting oppression. But Scarface is one of my biggest exceptions, and honestly, one of my favorite films as a film buff. There’s something about it that goes beyond the blood, beyond the guns, it’s entertaining, funny,…
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How The Social Network Keeps You Hooked: A Film Review
Read More: How The Social Network Keeps You Hooked: A Film ReviewThis was one of the most exciting films to come out of the 2010s,. On paper, a movie about the creation of Facebook and the fight over who actually owned it should’ve been boring. I honestly expected it to be like that. But it completely blew me away. There are so many reasons why this…
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Terrace House: The Coziest, Messiest, Most Human Reality Show Ever Made (Warning: Ultra Long Review)
Read More: Terrace House: The Coziest, Messiest, Most Human Reality Show Ever Made (Warning: Ultra Long Review)I first discovered Terrace House a few months during quarantine, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Isolation was heavy. My best friend was still working nonstop, she was in firefighter academy at the time, so suddenly the days felt very quiet and very long. I was taking breaks from work, sitting alone with too much…
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Why I Find Japan’s Mask Culture Really Beautiful
Read More: Why I Find Japan’s Mask Culture Really BeautifulOne thing I’ve always quietly admired about Japan is how normal wearing a mask is. Not because of fear.Not because of rules.Not because someone told them to. But because it’s considerate. If you have a cold, you wear a mask.If your allergies are acting up, you wear a mask.If you’re packed into a train with…
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Memoirs of a Geisha: My Film Review
Read More: Memoirs of a Geisha: My Film ReviewMemoirs of a Geisha has been one of my favorite movies for as long as I can remember. Every time I rewatch it, it hits me the same way. The storytelling, the cinematography, the acting, everything feels intentional and deeply emotional. It’s one of those films where every scene feels like it was carefully thought…
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Why I Avoid Superficial People
Read More: Why I Avoid Superficial PeopleWhen your self-worth is tied to superficial metrics like your appearance, job title, possessions, it is constantly vulnerable. A bad photo, a loss of a job or a home, or aging can really trigger an identity crisis, leading to anxiety, depression, stress, and insecurity. Substance builds resilience. When your self-worth comes from your character, integrity,…
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VR, Quarantine, and Making the Best of It
Read More: VR, Quarantine, and Making the Best of It2020 feels so unreal right now. It really feels like the world has slowed down, maybe even stopped. We’re home all the time now due to the quarantine that’s just been sanctioned. Isolated from society. Extremely bored. My best friend just bought me a VR headset a few weeks prior, and I don’t think she…
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Why Women With Big Hearts Attract Men With Unhealed Trauma (DV Content Warning)
Read More: Why Women With Big Hearts Attract Men With Unhealed Trauma (DV Content Warning)Content Warning: This post discusses domestic violence, emotional abuse, childhood trauma, and near-lethal situations. Please read with care, and only if you feel grounded and safe enough to engage with these themes. I don’t remember much of my childhood in detail, but I do remember the overall environment. My parents were emotionally volatile, always fighting, and…
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The Side Effects They Don’t Tell You About: What Long-Term Benzos and Adderall Use Can Really Do to You
Read More: The Side Effects They Don’t Tell You About: What Long-Term Benzos and Adderall Use Can Really Do to YouFor years, the mental health industry has sold us this idea that a pill is the fastest way out of our pain. A shortcut. A lifeline. A chemical solution for emotional problems that were often created by our environment, our trauma, our relationships, and our lifestyle. And when we’re desperate, hurting, or exhausted from carrying…
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Film Review
Read More: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Film ReviewEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the rare sci-fi stories that has nothing to do with space or technology. Instead, it dives straight into the emotional architecture of the human mind. The film follows Joel and Clementine as they undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories, turning the breakup…
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American Honey (2016) Film Review
Read More: American Honey (2016) Film ReviewAmerican Honey isn’t a feel-good road trip movie. It’s a portrait of lost youth with no safety net. The screenwriter Andrea Arnold strips the American dream down to its bones and shows what’s left when guidance, stability, and protection are missing. This is freedom born from neglect, not choice. The film is about a mixed-race teenage girl…
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How I Realized that Novel and Blog Writing Suits Me Better
Read More: How I Realized that Novel and Blog Writing Suits Me BetterI love films. I always have. Cinema shaped how I see the world, how I understand emotion, pacing, silence, and beauty. Some of my most formative experiences came from watching stories unfold on a screen, feeling seen by characters who didn’t even know I existed. Film made me fall in love with storytelling long before…
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Shameless (2012 – ) TV Series Review
Read More: Shameless (2012 – ) TV Series ReviewDon’t get me wrong, Shameless is freaking hilarious. But it’s also stressful. Loud. Triggering. Not because I grew up like this, but because I’ve seen these dynamics up close. In people. In families. In the way adults avoid responsibility and kids quietly adapt. Shameless follows the Gallagher family, a group of siblings growing up on the South Side…
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ClassPass, Yoga, and Finding My Calm in This City
Read More: ClassPass, Yoga, and Finding My Calm in This CityMiami is loud, fast, colorful, chaotic, and distracting. Yoga is the opposite. It’s the only place where I’m not thinking about anything else, not my phone, not my to-do list, nothing. Just breath, heat, music, and movement. Lately I’ve been using ClassPass to hop around different yoga studios all over Miami, and honestly… it’s becoming…
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The Hardest Truth Therapy Made Me Face Today
Read More: The Hardest Truth Therapy Made Me Face TodayI just walked out of therapy and I feel very unsettled right now. The entire session came down to one thing I really didn’t want to accept. Some people will hurt you and they genuinely do not care. They don’t sit with it. They don’t feel the weight. They don’t lose sleep. They don’t replay the…
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Unfck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper (Book Review)
Read More: Unfck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper (Book Review)Honestly I’m really in my self-help books era right now. I’m craving anything that helps me understand my mind, my patterns, my healing, and the way my past still echoes through my present. What struck me most is how compassionate the book is. It doesn’t treat you like you’re broken or weak. Unfck Your Brain isn’t just a catchy…
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My Experience at the Cirque du Soleil LOVE Show in Vegas
Read More: My Experience at the Cirque du Soleil LOVE Show in VegasThere are some experiences that stay with you long after the room goes dark, and for me, the Cirque du Soleil LOVE show in Las Vegas is one of them. It was a mind bending sensory experience that felt bigger than entertainment. It felt like stepping inside a dream. I went with one of my…
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The Dreamers (2003) – French New Wave Cinema
Read More: The Dreamers (2003) – French New Wave CinemaSynopsis: A young American studying in Paris in 1968 strikes up a friendship with a French brother and sister. Set against the background of the ‘68 Paris student riots. I’ve always been deeply drawn to French cinema even as a child, and honestly I’m not a plot-driven viewer, I’m an atmosphere, psychology, and emotion-driven one. And…
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Why I Can’t Connect With Christianity
Read More: Why I Can’t Connect With ChristianityI grew up technically Catholic. I was baptized, did communion, all of that, but my parents were pretty secular. We were Catholic by name, not really by practice. That was just the environment I grew up in. Around 25, I started dating a Christian guy I’d known for a very long time. He was really…
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My Favorite Black Mirror Episodes of Season 3
Read More: My Favorite Black Mirror Episodes of Season 3I really love the science fiction genre and my taste in sci-fi is actually very distinct just like everything else about me. The tech-heavy or hard-science side of the genre really bores me unless it’s character-driven with romance arcs and plenty of other elements to give it more personality. What I’m really drawn to are…
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My Favorite Types of Yoga
Read More: My Favorite Types of YogaI recently learned that Yoga is where my body feel safest. I move through different styles, looking for grounding, strength, balance, something that makes me feel more at home in my body. Hot yoga pulls me in first of course. The heat feels incredible. My muscles finally relax. For an hour, my body lets go…
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The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle – Book Review
Read More: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle – Book ReviewI’m currently reading this book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle which centers on living in the present moment to find peace and emphasizing that things like anxiety and worry comes from dwelling on the past or future, and that true self is consciousness beyond the constant mind chatter. It’s seriously changing my life.…
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My Experience at a Filmmaker Bootcamp in Downtown Miami
Read More: My Experience at a Filmmaker Bootcamp in Downtown MiamiA lot of the people I look up to in the film world didn’t attend film school, , and honestly, that always made sense to me. In film school, you’re usually learning from people who have never actually completed their own film, which always bothered me. Along with the performance anxiety I suffered from at…
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The Shape of Water (2017) Film Review
Read More: The Shape of Water (2017) Film ReviewThis isn’t a love story in the way people usually mean it. It’s a story about who gets to be loved at all. Guillermo del Toro doesn’t romanticize romance. He romanticizes the outcast. The quiet ones. The ones who don’t translate well. The ones the world keeps in the margins and then pretends not to see. This…
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My 23andMe DNA Results: A Deep Dive Into My Ancestry🧬
Read More: My 23andMe DNA Results: A Deep Dive Into My Ancestry🧬My best friend had bought me a 23andMe DNA kit for my 27th birthday and and honestly… it was wild seeing my genetic story laid out in charts, colors, and timelines. I always knew I was mixed, but seeing the exact regions and generations mapped out felt like opening a time capsule of everyone who…
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Crashing (2016) UK TV Series Review
Read More: Crashing (2016) UK TV Series ReviewCrashing is about a group of twenty-somethings living together as property guardians in a massive, abandoned hospital. So British lol they’re broke, directionless, emotionally messy, and way too close to each other for comfort. Basically: chaos with thin walls. It’s short, fast, awkward in the best way, and painfully funny. Every episode feels like it ends…
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Misfits (2009) – UK TV Series Review
Read More: Misfits (2009) – UK TV Series ReviewMisfits follows a group of young adults who are forced to do community service together until a strange electrical storm strikes the city and suddenly gives them superpowers, but not the glamorous kind. Their powers reflect their deepest insecurities: invisibility, mind-reading, uncontrollable sexuality, time reversal, rage. Instead of turning them into heroes, the powers throw them…
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Kill Bill – An Unexpected Childhood Classic for Me
Read More: Kill Bill – An Unexpected Childhood Classic for MeKill Bill was one of those movies I never expected to love as much as I did. As a kid, I didn’t fully understand all the symbolism, the genre-blending, or the emotional weight behind The Bride’s story but it was really cool for it’s time and there was definitely something about it that grabbed me…
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) Film Review
Read More: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) Film ReviewA lot of us idolized Holly before we understood her. When you’re younger, she looks like freedom. No rules. No roots. Beautiful, desired, unattached. She answers to no one. She floats through life on her own terms. That kind of woman feels powerful when you’re still learning how painful attachment can be. But idolizing her is…
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When a “Best Friend” Doesn’t Feel Safe
Read More: When a “Best Friend” Doesn’t Feel SafeI’ve had a lot of girlfriends and best friends in my lifetime, but none of them fit into this category, except her. I recently cut off one of my longtime best friends, and even though it had to be done, I still feel terrible because we had known each other for a long time, long…
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Curly Hair Gang: How I Take Care of My 3C Curly Hair
Read More: Curly Hair Gang: How I Take Care of My 3C Curly HairIf you have 3C curls, you already know this, your hair has a personality. Some days it cooperates. Some days it absolutely does not. And a lot of what I learned about my curls came from trial, error, and ignoring advice that clearly wasn’t made for my hair type. I’ve straightened and colored my hair…
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Enter The Void (2009) Film Review
Read More: Enter The Void (2009) Film ReviewSet in the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo, the story follows Oscar, a young American drug dealer, and his sister Linda, who works as a stripper. They are emotionally fused by shared childhood trauma and an unspoken promise to never abandon each other. Early in the film, Oscar smokes DMT, a powerful psychedelic substance known for…
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Mass Effect Sci Fi RPG Video Game Review
Read More: Mass Effect Sci Fi RPG Video Game ReviewI discovered Mass Effect almost ten years after its first release. I wasn’t looking for a video game to play per se. I was writing sci-fi stories at the time and wanted some inspiration when it came to world-building, something immersive enough to pull me into another world for a while. What I ended up…
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Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Film Review
Read More: Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Film ReviewThe film follows a married couple, Bill (a doctor) and Alice Harford (a housewife). On the surface, they look like they’re doing well, until the party. A lavish, glittering night where small cracks start to show. Bill flirts comfortably with two models, almost on autopilot, while Alice lingers on the dance floor with another man a…
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Honestly, Vanessa 