Going Green-- Saving the Planet One Tree At A Time

This should be amusing for a lot of you, just a heads up.

John (for all of you newcomers, that's my fiance) and his roommate have been saving paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum for a little over a month, just to recycle it.
There is a local recycling company that will pay you for bringing your recycled goods. John was getting super excited, his main purpose for all of this was money.
He asked me, as a journalist, what is it that makes a story.
First, I told him he needs questions that he not only asks himself, but his viewers. His question was "Is recycling worth it?" I informed him that it is a good question but it needs to be more specific because for his viewers, how are they supposed to know what he means? Does he mean is it worth it when it comes to money or is it worth it in the sense that it is beneficial for the environment?

Well, we all have common sense (for the most part). We know that plastic bottles do not decompose so obviously it's helpful to recycle it. Anyways, that's a different story. Back to my point.
We took an adventure out to Try2Recycle today. John took all of his recyclables to his place and on our adventure, we took a video. He called and found out that he had to sort all of it otherwise they wouldn't accept it.
John had over 11 pounds of recycled goods. Because places like this are a HUGE deal in places like California, I was guessing he was going to get a decent amount. I was guessing $5 maybe, he was aiming more towards $10. He walked up to a lady at the front of the company, turned in his weight-in and guess what he got?
An amazing 63 cents.

Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BvbXYa9fh8

For Fun, Try It :)

Ok, being that my fiance, my mom, my roommate, my grandparents, and basically everyone around me can cook, I'm determined to be awesome at it. I've been watching Iron Chef, Bobby Flay, things like that but they go too fast for me. I decided to go my own way. I absolutely LOVE Macaroni and Cheese so playing with that seemed like a good start. After it was done, I got the approval from John (that means it was awesome)
Check it out :)

First, set your stove to 350

Boil your water and cook the noodles, easy right?

(You're basically done with that, just set them aside when they're finished cooking)

Cheese-

Get a pot, put about a spoon full of butter, chopped up garlic and about 3/4 cup of milk (you may add a little more but the point is to have it creamy, not watery)

Wait until the butter is completely melted, then pour the packet of cheese from the mac and cheese box in.

Add salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsely.

Then add about 1/2 of alfredo sauce

Hashbrowns-

Fry the hash browns in a skillet (this was slightly difficult for me)

Once all three are finished, pour the noodles, then the cheese sauce, then the hashbrowns into a glass baking dish.

Put in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, you'll see the hashbrowns will be super crispy.

Then, take it out of the oven and take about 1/3 of a white sharp cheddar cheese thing and shred it. Dump it over the dish and get a little shredded cheese from a bag and pour some over the top. Stir and add some bread crumbs
DE-LIC-IOUS!

Trying Out Twitter

So, I have decided that Twitter may be of use to me after all. After one day of Twitter, my blog views have gone up. If you guys are really reading my posts, please either comment with feedback or give me an idea on what you want to read about. Now that I am getting into my specialization area in school, I need all the help I can get. If it is a topic I don't know about, well then I guess it will be a new thing for me to research and learn about.

We'll see how this works?

Black Swan (NOT RECOMMENDED)

So my last post, I did a review on Soul Surfer. Well, this review is going to be pretty different than my last.

About a week ago, I rented Black Swan. Everyone was telling me how awesome it was so I decided my roomie and I should give it a shot. Needless to say, that was a bad idea because I was not impressed.

Being a dancer myself, I knew the story of the Swan Lake ballet. It is a very depressing ballet but a good one nonetheless. The ballet is about twins, a good one, Odette (the white swan) and an evil one, Odile (the black swan). Long story short, the white swan falls in love with a man only to have her evil twin seduce him then she kills herself. In the ballet, the white and black swan is danced by the same dancer and she takes the role of the Swan Queen.

The Swan Queen in the movie was played by Natalie Portman. Nina (Portman) is perfect for the part of the White Swan but is told by her director that she is not seductive enough for the part of the Black Swan. She slowly starts losing her mind as she becomes more like the Black Swan. I think it's safe to say she hallucinates (that may even be an understatement). She believes that a new girl at the company named Lily (Mila Kunis) is trying to take her spot as Swan Queen. She basically sees Lily as "The Black Swan". She is getting the attention of the company director and she is a free "seductive" dancer.

Now let me get to why I did not like this movie. First, let me say that I have lost all respect for both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, but out of the two, Kunis disappointed me the most. After her role in The Book Of Eli, I was impressed with actress but she took a HUGE turn for the worst.

So, let me ask you this: Out of what you read, where is it necessary to have homosexuality, masturbation or drugs? In one scene, Lily (Kunis) took Nina (Portman) to a bar, got her drunk, drugged her up, took her home, and yes, her it comes, performed oral sex. This was not hidden in any way, shape or form and it was an extremely long and unnecessary scene.
Next, there were AT LEAST 2 major masturbation scenes and several scenes of inappropriate touching. Please, tell me why this belonged in the movie because I would love to know. When I am watching a movie, I do NOT, by any means, want to see:
1) Oral Sex (I do NOT want to see this with a man and a woman, let alone 2 women)
2) Masturbation
3) I would really prefer not to see homosexuality in movies, especially to that extent.

I honestly don't even think sex needs to be shown in movies, leave it to the viewers imagination if they really want to go that far. Watching this movie made me sick, uncomfortable, and downright irritated me. People everywhere are rating this movie extremely high. On the Internet Movie Database, Black Swan rates an 8.5 out of 10 (and that's out of thousands of people).
I can admit, the acting was good, the dancing was good, but as for everything else, this movie was not anything to brag about. I do not recommend it.

Soul Surfer Review

I decided that I really like doing movie reviews. The other week, John talked me into doing a "vlog" aka video blog of a movie we saw together called Source Code and a movie I saw with my mom called Soul Surfer. If you want to check out the vlog and the Source Code review, go to Youtube and type in TheJohnVandivier in the search box and it should be the second video.

But I won't be talking about Source Code in this post just because I think we covered most of it in our "vlog".
I would like to talk about Soul Surfer. It is a PG movie that recently came out and let me tell you, I really enjoyed it. Like I said in the video post, most PG rated movies are directly towards children, not necessarily for all ages. This movie, however, was appropriate for all viewers.

If you haven't seen trailers, this movie is about a 13 year-old girl named Bethany Hamilton who grew up in Hawaii and had been out in the water ever since she was little. She started entering championships at a very young age. At 13, she got sponsored and was going to enter the BIG championship. While out on her board with her best friend, she was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm. According to her friends and family, she didn't cry or panic at all (pretty sure I would be doing both, I am terrified of sharks). About a month after the attack, she got back into the water, learned how to surf with a disability and entered nationals.

This movie is based on a true story. Bethany Hamilton was played by actress Anna Sophia Robb. Her parents were played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. I would really like to emphasize how awesome the family in this movie was portrayed. Think back to movies you have seen and answer this:
How many movies have BOTH parents, happily married, never divorced and even after so many years of marriage, they are still in love, happy and able to play?
For me, the movies I see fall under these categories:
1) Parents are divorced and fighting
2) One or both parents have died in some sort of accident
3) They are still married but unhappy

Think even to television shows, for one example: Disney Channel. Out of all the shows they run, 2 at the moment have happily married parents. But that is for a different blog, maybe someday.

My point is this:
The parents in Soul Surfer laughed, played, and went to church together. You just don't see that.

But now to my biggest point.
How many movies have Christian families? And before you answer that, I'm not talking about "hinting" christians. No, I'm not talking about Christian "references" where the movie could go either way. I am talking about church, bible verses, prayer, mission trips, and faith. All of those were in this movie and more. To me, this made the movie (Not because I'm Christian and biased, that's not my point even if it may be true) because the family gave all their struggles to God and gave Him the credit for their strength.
One scene in the movie, Bethany is crying to her youth director and asking why God would do this to her. The youth director did not give a direct answer but she told her that maybe God wanted her to see life from a different view. After this talk, she went on a mission trip and saw all the people suffering because of a natural disaster. She saw people without food and water and ones hurting from loss of a loved one. Long story short, she realized that surfing wasn't everything, it was not the meaning of life. Even through her pain and suffering, she realized she was still blessed.

I can honestly say I don't think I have ever seen a movie that was really this open with Christianity. People are standing up for what they believe in now and I like it. I know they are just actors and they may or may not believe in their character, but the fact that Hollywood would come out with a movie like this, tells me our world is turning back around.

On the other hand, Soul Surfer received bad reviews from the critics. One critic gave the movie a C rating because (and I quote) "For a movie about surfing, the focus needs to be a little less on her Christian walk"
I read that and was shocked. It is a true story, yes it has surfing, but I think that all the things she overcame was way more of a story than her surfing. The fact that she had enough determination to get back in the water and re-learn how to surf is awesome, but because she was able to grow in her walk with Christ is what really captured me.

Update

Hey guys, all 5 of you. I know I haven't written in a while. School has been getting the best of my attention, along with 20-30 hours a week at my new(ish) job at Rue! Oh yea, and I'm now engaged!! I know, finally right? I am so excited to start planning the wedding with my best friend/fiance.
So, maybe if you're lucky, I will start writing blogs on wedding planning/budgeting. It should be an interesting journey. So far what we've figured out is:
1) Weddings are EXPENSIVE, yes, even the small ones cost at LEAST $5,000
2) Agreements are possible, shocking isn't it?
3) You do NOT have to spend thousands of dollars to get the dress of your dreams. I have been eying the same dress for 6 months and it is under $500 and GORGEOUS.
4) Being engaged to your best friend is by far the most amazing thing <3
5) When you post that you are engaged on facebook, expect at LEAST 80 notifications the following day.
6) EVERYONE asks about the proposal story and wants to look at your ring.

So as you can see, I am super excited over what the coming years will bring. I can't wait to get started so that I can share my life with the amazing guy that God brought me to.

Don't think I forgot to post pictures.

Ex Terrorist Speaks Out Against Islam

A man raised in the violence of Palestinian terrorism is now speaking out against the life he used to live.

Walid Shoebat is a former Palestinian terrorist who believes that the truth about Islam is widely misunderstood and misleadingly presented throughout the world.

In his youth, Shoebat joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). As a member he was involved in attacks against Israel and was later imprisoned in the Russian Compound.

“I planted a bomb in a bank in Bethlehem called Bank Leumi, I got involved in many of the riots in the Palestinian areas, in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, I nearly beat an Israeli soldier to death, and stonings. So from bombing to stoning and fundraising for terrorism, I did it all,” said Shoebat.

Shoebat was trained by Jamal Said, who is a colleague of Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, the Godfather of Al’Quida. After his training Shoebat was involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in Chicago, Illinois.

“The main goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to destroy the West from within, take over the American government, and replace it with Shariah Law, otherwise known as Islamic Law,” said Shoebat.

After coming to the United States Shoebat became a counselor for the Arab Student Organization in Chicago and continued his anti-Israel activities.
While in the U.S Shoebat met a Christian woman named Maria and they fell in love. He attempted to convert her to Islam and she attempted to convert him to Christianity. They compromised by exchanging challenges. She would read the entire Quran and he would read the whole Bible. After studying the Bible for six months Shoebat converted from extremist Islam to Christianity in 1993.

“I have challenged everything in the bible, I have hated God’s people, I have persecuted the Jewish people, and by reading the bible, I have found that it is an amazing manuscript,” said Shoebat.

In the middle east, questioning Islam can be punishable by death. Because Shoebat has chosen to speak out against terrorism, his family is constantly faced with security issues.

“The question I always ask myself is why are the Muslim Movement and the terrorists able to give their names and the Islamist movement in the West has no problem giving their addresses, but I have to be in hiding? It is because Christians don’t kill the Muslims, it is the Islamists who kill the Christians,” said Shoebat.

Since his conversion Shoebat has spoken at universities across the country. He has appeared on FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and has been interviewed on countless radio stations. Many of his views are controversial. He even claims that deception is a regular tool of Muslims.

“When I was disseminating Islamic dogma and revolutionary causes for the PLO in Chicago, I would invite Americans to come to a ‘cultural party’ when indeed it had nothing to do with a cultural party, it had something to do with collecting donations for the PLO for the cause of Islam,” said Shoebat.

Shoebat warns westerners to observe things said in Arabic rather than English. For example, the invitations to the ‘cultural party’ were pamphlets which stated in Arabic, “We are conducting a Jihad expedition against Israel in the west. Bring your friends so we can raise the funds.” In English it was an invitation to attend a cultural party.

Shoebat surmised, “During my terror days, I lied to the westerners and they believed me. Now that I am telling the truth, I am called a liar.”

Shoebat believes part of the reason for America’s denial is the news they are fed.

“The reason you are denying this is because the media that you have. It is not building the American’s confidence, it is building the enemies confidence,” said Shoebat, “We have a War on Terrorism, but terrorism is working.”

While Shoebat speaks to a majority of the media, there is a minority that agrees with him. A member of this minority, conservative talk show host Ben Barrack, has done extensive research on Walid’s story. Barrack opposes accusations of fraud made by Christopher Hedges of the New York Times and Jorg Luyken of the Jerusalem Post.

Through his research Barrack has corroborated the identity of Shoebat’s mentor, Shoebat’s bombing of Bank Leumi, and the fact that Shoebat beat an Israeli soldier.

Barrack says“He knows what he is talking about, so maybe people should start listening.”