Alright, so a group of kids from my ward decided to go and see The Avengers the night it came out (I know, I bet you never would have guessed that based on the title, yeah?) There had been talk about how funny it'd be if we all dressed up as Harry Potter characters--especially with the type of fans that would be at the midnight showing. Well, I figured it was mostly just conversation, however, about an hour before we were meant to leave, I came out of my room (which was solely mine at the time. That only lasted about 2 weeks, by the way. However, it's alright, Heidi is my new roommate now, as opposed to flatmate, so it's all good.) and my flatmates were all dressing up. I had nothing better to do, so I thought I might as well, too. I have never dressed up for any movie before--and I was purposefully dressing for the wrong film. That's the way to do it, I tell ya. With Lucy's help, I was able to create a pretty neat Bellatrix Lestrange costume and hairdo.
As it turns out, no one else had the guts to dress up with us. Goobers--the lot of 'em! At the theater, it was brilliant--so many people talked about us and watched us as we walked (or, in my case, strutted, past). Unfortunately, despite our early arrival, our group had to sit on the front row. On the plus side, it gave people a better view of us, and I was able to strut darkly (haha, yeah...) for my audience. It was great--I held my expression nearly the whole time even though people were definitely looking right at me! It made me miss theatre, that's for sure. Check out the pics--Lucy is Tonks, Heidi is Hermione, Morgan is Professor Trelawney, and I, of course, am Bellatrix.
As a Tracy Anderson Method consumer, I get emails from TA every once in a while. Today, the email came with several links for women, as Mother's Day is approaching. At the bottom, Tracy recommended watching the doc "Miss Representation". I read the little blurb about it and figured that this movie was about how oppressed women were and how much life sucks sometimes because we are so victimized (or something like that). However, I clicked the link that took me to the site, and immediately realized that I was wrong. I watched the trailer and was shocked. This film talks about how objectified women are in society. My favourite quote is: "You can't be what you can't see". Now, I am not suggesting that every point is being represented perfectly, however, I am very interested in this and feel very passionately about it.
In the trailer, there is a montage of clips of women as portrayed in the media. It was shocking and sickening. Though I've always tried my best to avoid such things in the world, I have also been fairly sure that I at least know enough about what is going on. Especially in Church, I hear about how this is the most wicked time and the most wicked world, and, quite honestly, I end up boggled a lot of the time after hearing this. I understand that there is an exceeding mount of wickedness going on, yet I cannot imagine a world where things are that much better (what do they do there--just skip through the flowers all day?). Watching that trailer was a huge eye opener--seeing a collection of what is popular and considered good entertainment. It really helped me to see how horribly objectified women are. It's so wrong. Hollywood tells us that we must be beautiful to be successful, and watching just one thing that sort of supports such a message may not seem too bad, however, when you realize that that is the message that nearly everything is selling women, it is revolting.
Now, there is really only one major thing that I disagree with from the trailer. They say that when boys are girls are young, about an even number of them want to be president when they grow up, but when you ask them when they are 15, girls are far less likely to want that still. There probably are some who just don't think they could, but, at least for me, I think that it isn't as tragic as they make it out to be. As girls get older, I think that many of them probably decide that they would rather be mothers or have less stressful jobs (so they can balance a family, or whatever). Political life isn't that huge a draw for a lot of people, I feel. Either way, check out the site, here's the link. Also, here is the link to the longer video. I highly recommend it. This is a pretty excellent cause, I feel.
Back to Tracy Anderson. I just found out that she is having a second child this month. I have to say, I really admire her. One of her original DVDs was a post-pregnancy workout, and she talks--fairly often--about how women can be mothers and have a body that makes them feel beautiful. I remember a while back when Jillian Michaels said she would never have children because she did not want to lose her body. In response, Tracy sent out an email saying that was a horrible mindset--that women are naturally nurturing and many of us want to have families. She also said that you can look great afterwords (you can see the results with her and her clients). However, when Tracy last had a child, she wasn't the super-trainer that she is today. I was really pleased to see that the trainer I have aligned with puts a high value on family and motherhood, even though she had the perfect body.
On a final note, I would just like to bring up that there is a difference between 'sexy' and 'sexism'. I find nothing wrong with innocently (for lack of a better term) wanting to feel sexy--it's the devaluation of women that I have a problem with.
Oh, and that guy--(in the trailer) that replied, "You mean besides the pms and the mood swings?"--can go to hell.
I've been meaning to blog about this for several months now. Brilliant. Anyway...
So, my freshman year of college, I bought a bracelet that allowed me to attend Zumba classes (and others, but I mostly did Zumba) in the evening. For about a month, I was really good and went a couple of times a week, however, after that, I stopped going. Since the bracelet only gave me access for 1 semester, I went Zumba-less for nearly a year. Fall semester of my sophomore year, I enrolled in a Zumba class (for credit). There, I was bitten with the Zumba bug. Some days, I really hated that I had to exercise (the grades were solely based upon attendance. However, I actually memorized the choreography to several songs we did and would do them in me flat on days when I didn't have the class. Over Christmas break, I went Zumba crazy. It was pretty much the only productive thing I did. I would dance for a couple of hours--it was great! This past Winter semester, I bought another bracelet, went once, but then ended up Zumba-ing on my own. There are so many routines online, so you can choose which songs you feel like doing.
I love the results I've seen. Dancing definitely increases full-body coordination, and I have shaped up quite a bit!
Pre-Zumba:
Post Zumba:
To anyone curious about Zumba--try it. It's loads of fun. If you don't know too much about it, then check out this video. This is currently my favourite routine to do, so I thought I'd film it for those who want to know what Zumba is all about.
