Amped

Technology has advanced in the form of implantations that make people have super human strength, intelligence, and a slew of other abilities. The ramifications on society are widespread as discrimination and bigotry towards amplified humans grows because of religious fanaticism, outrage over stolen jobs and just plain hatred. Legislation is put forth to deny these people everything: jobs, homes, and even families. Owen Gray is amplified, but his implant only staves off his severe seizures as far as he knows. His life is upended when he finds himself without a job, a house, or any friends because of the Supreme Court ruling on one of the discriminatory laws. He is even more surprised when he sees his picture alongside wanted criminals considered a huge threat. He goes on the run with no other choices and ends up in a small amped town in a journey to find the truth about his amp and how to move forward. He ends up finding a group of the most amped people in the world that seek to change the world and Owen has to decide if he will work with them or against them.

Amped takes place in a near future version of our own world where implantations can cure anything from mental disorders to physical disabilities to chronic diseases. The people suffering from these and the military are the first to have them, but resentment, bigotry, and religious zeal of the vocal majority of unamped people relegated them to the status of objects or animals. One flaw of this world is that it felt like there was no build up to the opposition to amps. It felt like it kind of came out too fast. It might be because Owen is so oblivious to it all that it seems out of nowhere to him. In between the chapters are articles and documents to fill out what's happening outside of Owen's life in society. It gave a mixed media feeling to the book and filled in the blanks without infodumping. The plot is fast moving and interesting. After Owen runs away, things get crazy and it's all action and revelations.

Although I enjoyed the book, Amped didn't feel right to me. Maybe near the end there is too much action and not enough actual substance for me. It seems like it would make a great film, but it lacks a bit in character development and depth near the end. The very small romance that is present proves to be rather insignificant and hollow. It easily could have been removed to make room for more important things.

Amped is an enjoyable, action packed book and the writing makes it a fast read. If you want more than a summer blockbuster type book, you won't find it here.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Breed

Alex and Leslie Twisden live in a gorgeous, humongous house in Manhattan and lead very privileged lives. Only one thing is missing: a child. Alex is significantly older than Leslie and they are having problems conceiving. They have tried every infertility treatment they can find no matter how ridiculous sounding or expensive it is, including in vitro fertilization, various medicines, homeopathic remedies, and various diets. Leslie wants to give up and just adopt, but Alex is persistent. After practically being robbed just to get the information, one of Alex's friends gives him the information for an Eastern European doctor with a revolutionary new treatment that has a huge success rate. Even with Leslie's misgivings, they travel to Slovenia and get the painful injections. Success! Conception follows swiftly and twins are born. Fast forward 10 years. The twins Adam and Alice are terrified of them. They are locked in their rooms at night and keep terrifying secrets for their parents. After they can't take any more, they run away and inadvertently discover the secret behind their parents' behavior and their own nature.

Breed is a fascinating and addictive read. The concepts are interesting, even if I have to suspend disbelief. The fertility injections Alex and Leslie received changed them and made them more savage and animalistic. They are starting to lose language, becoming more violent, and struggling against the urge to eat their children. Although the science behind this is shaky at best, these parents are frightening. I definitely feel the constant fear of their children and the undercurrent of uneasiness and hostility everywhere. They are terrified of telling anyone about their parents, but their inaction could also mean their deaths. Their will power is the only thing between their children and a horrible, gruesome death. It begs the question if having those children is really worth becoming cannibalistic monsters for. There are plenty of other options that can be explored before resorting to questionable, untested treatments that could contain anything. Even though they go through all this madness to make their lives complete, it ironically and utterly destroys their lives. They lose the ability to work in public, sell or destroy all their valuables, and allow their house and the surrounding property descend into disrepair. This is a new spin on the classic story of getting screwed over because of messing too much with nature.

Some flaws mar this otherwise addicting novel. The science behind the treatment and its effects are dubious and I had to force myself to suspend disbelief. If it were just explained as magic, it would have been much less annoying. The other thing that bothers me is the weird, unneeded subplots. A third baby was born, but pronounced dead and a nurse adopted him, raising him as her own. This subplot just didn't really go anywhere, became confusing as it went on, and made the book less focused. This space in the book could have been used to further develop the meaningful characters or the plot.

Breed is a thought provoking, creepy novel. There are some really memorable scenes that would look awesome on a movie screen. I would love to read a sequel to Breed focusing on how the treatment affected the children (of all the parents who used it) and how they will shape the future.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Fall to Pieces

Ella is depressed and confused. Her best friend Amy died at Ella's party and Ella can't remember anything from that night. She has no idea if Amy's death was the result of suicide or murder or accident or why it happened. Their mutual friends Petal and Mark seem to be hiding something from her and it hurts that they won't tell her anything. Mark and Ella created the game Pick Me Ups, where they jump from dangerous heights. Mark and Petal do them for fun and to drive away their grief, but Ella remembers a bit of that night every time she does them. After a while of this, Ella brings in a newcomer to their group, a boy she dubs "Explosive Boy" or E (whose name is actually Tristan). Her idea is that the newcomer with bring her, Mark, and Ella closer together, but things don't end up going just as Ella planned. Ella may not be ready to face the real truth even as she strives so hard to figure our what happened.

Fall to Pieces is a dark contemporary young adult novel that doesn't pull punches. It tackles real teen issues such as drinking, sexuality, suicide, peer pressure, bullying (from the point of view of the bullies), and death. These teens are not sweetness and light. They are bullies that target people for fun without realizing the damage they do. Even after Amy died, many people spoke ill of her because of her bullying ways, which is weird. People usually bend over backwards to make dead people seem like saints even if they clearly weren't. I appreciate the view of bullying from the bullies point of view because I don't see it written about much. It provides insight to motivations behind it and shows that bullies aren't evil people. Even though a lot of people take issue with it, I like the language used. There are a lot of curse words, but that's how some people actually talk. It's refreshing to see after so many authors make up their own new words that mean the same thing to avoid using the real ones.

Even though the plot is like taking the crazy adrenaline junkie/suicidal part of New Moon and making a whole book about it, I liked it overall. Even though it seems melodramatic, teens are melodramatic and people deal with grief in their own way. It may be self destructive and life threatening, but it's still a way. Ella, despite her mistakes and issues, is a sympathetic character because we don't just see her actions, but her thoughts and her mind set. She may be annoying and cruel sometimes, but she's taking out her guilt, confusion, and grief on other people and it makes her seem more real. I really like Tristan, the Explosive Boy. He truly has Ella's best interests at heart and shows he cares about her way more than her friends. His own secrets and tragedies are wearing on him. He's the most interesting and relatable character in the book.

Fall to Pieces is an impressive debut that tackles realistic issues. The plot takes surprising twists and turns along the way and shocked me in the end. I never could have predicted the outcome of the book. I'm usually not super interested in contemporary teen reads, but I like this one. I would recommend it to people not afraid of realistic, depressing situations and curse words.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

The Space Between

Daphne lives in Pandemonium, a city in Hell, and is the youngest daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. She longs for the vibrancy and excitement of Earth, but Pandemonium is largely static and dull. Daphne's half brother Obie has gone to Earth to live with his wife and help people, which is forbidden by Heaven. He has disappeared and Lilith asks Daphne to go to Earth in the face of grave danger to find out what happened to Obie. During her journey, Daphne will meet Truman, a broken soul whose actions bring him closer and closer to Pandemonium, who will act as her guide on Earth. Through their journey together, they will change and help each other in ways they never thought possible.

Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement is one of my favorite teen horror reads, so I had to read The Space Between. Her prose in conjunction with her unique take on folk tales and mythology make her books hard to put down. Her take on Christian mythology is comparable to Laini Taylor's in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone. This world is not black and white. Demons are not all necessarily evil and angels are not all necessarily good. Daphne has to choose if she will be a soulless monster like her sisters or follow in her half brother Obie's footsteps helping people on Earth. Azrael and the Dark Dreadful are shown to really the villains here, singlemindedly slaughtering any demon they catch on Earth no matter who they are, what they have done, or any other factor. I like a world where demons and angels can choose their own fate and decide how they will influence the world.

Daphne is an odd but likable character. She appears human except for her metal teeth, but she knows nothing of the human world. Her mix of naivete, awkwardness, and honesty made her different than other YA protagonists. She felt a bit strange, which made sense since she's half demon and half angel. Despite being raised to be cold and detached and encouraged to use humans for her own personal gains, she refused to internalize that mode of thinking. I admired her determination that led her to help Truman, who many dismissed as a suicidal hopeless cause, and Obie, for whom she faced unimaginable danger for. Truman is also an interesting character with a heartbreaking backstory and a penchant for being close to death. Daphne actually meets him in Hell when he died, but her intervention allowed him to return to Earth. I don't normally like characters like this, but his self loathing and depression are so raw and understandable that I couldn't help but sympathize with him. I loved seeing the world through their eyes and getting their unique perspective.

The Space Between is a slow burning read. The first half is fairly slow moving, but there's nothing wrong with that. The writing is so wonderful and lush that I just wanted to stay in the story as long as possible like a warm bath. I appreciate that Yovanoff isn't afraid to delve into dark, mature, and realistic themes. I consider her one of the best YA authors because she never talks down to her audience and produces some of the darkest and most interesting stories in the genre.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Mailbox Goodies 6

Books from my mailbox for the past couple of weeks and I went on a shopping spree at Barnes and Noble with Christmas gift cards.

* Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff, purchased from Barnes and Noble

I've been waiting for this book for so long! The cover is amazing and I always love Brenna Yovanoff's writing. I hope it's awesome. I will probably review it in February for Women in Horror Month.

* Mind Games by Kiersten White for review from Amazon Vine

I haven't read anything by Kiersten White, but the supernatural premise seems interesting and I've heard a lot of good things about the Paranormalcy series.

* The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord for review from Amazon Vine

I immediately recognized the title as a reference to Voltaire's Candide, which I love, plus the plot sounds kind of a like an awesome science fiction version of Romeo and Juliet.

* Splintered by A.G. Howard purchased from Barnes and Noble

I had to get this dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I'm such a sucker for retellings and the cover is gorgeous!

* Flesh and Bone by Jonathan Maberry purchased from Barnes and Noble

I also had to get the latest book in the Benny Imura zombie series for September Zombies (or maybe a mini zombie week sometime between now and then). Dust and Decay was amazing and I need to know what happens!

What have you gotten that you are excited about?

Internet Awesomeness 9

Awesome videos!!

1) Season 6 Finale of The Guild



This is the best ending to this show. I'm not sure if it's truly the end, but everyone is getting the ending they deserve and Codex doesn't even need her video journal anymore. I cried a little at the end and I felt totally satisfied about the series. If you haven't seen the series at all, it's all on Netflix and Youtube. It's about a guild in a World of Warcraft-like game, how they are all socially maladjusted, and how they meet in real life.

2) Bab Seed



I love the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and its super addicting songs written by Daniel Ingram. This one is like creature that lays eggs in my brain and gets stuck in my head for days at a time. It's upbeat, catchy, and fun. I suggest if you like the song to check out the surprisingly awesome show about 6 friends in Ponyville learning about friendship.

3) Kirby Krackle - One More Episode

Kirby Krackle, my favorite nerd band, has come out with a new single that I totally relate to. It's about when your powering through a series and you just want to watch one more episode before stopping for whatever reason. I have powered through so many series this way, it's not even funny. I love that the video is just in the script mimicking famous and popular television shows and it's fun to guess what they all are.

4) Overly Attached Computer commerical



Laina Walker of Overly Attached Girlfriend fame is featured as a computer for Samsung. I love her crazy eyes and how she can just  change her emotions at the drop of a hat. Her various threats to delete your stuff or send dirty messages to your dad are hilarious. I enjoy her humor and I'm glad she's taking advantage of her internet fame.

See any videos online that you want to share?

The Spindlers

Liza woke up one morning and discovered that her brother Patrick was no longer himself. He looked the same, had the same memories, and to everyone else seems the same, but something is definitely off with him. Liza is the only one who realizes the Spindlers have taken his soul and put one of their own in his place. To save Patrick's soul, Liza takes a broom (because Spindlers are afraid of them) and goes Below, a world beyond her own full of magical creatures, talking rats, glow worms that light her way, and all manner of dangers. She must face the evil Spindlers with her own intelligence and wit as her only weapons. Will she be able to escape alive and save her brother?

The Spindlers is a fun adventure complete with danger, darkness, and wonder. I adore Below, the underground world Lauren Oliver has created. It's just the right ratio of beautiful, strange, and scary. My favorite parts are the troglod market, the nocturni, and the lumpen. The troglod market links Below with the regular world. The troglods, little gnome-like creatures, steal things from humans and sell them in their market in exchange for random pieces of paper whose value is determined by the color. This reminds me of The Borrowers and pokes a little bit of fun at the money we put so much value on, which is just really bits of colored paper. The nocturni are my favorite part of the book. They are creatures that are a cross between hummingbirds and butterflies made of darkness and air. They bring dreams to only one person forever and are rumored to bring souls to the afterlife. These benevolent creatures are integral to the story, fascinating, and, as far as I know, an original creation. The lumpen are glowworms that light the way in the Below, but are very sensitive creatures that won't illuminate if annoyed or insulted. These are my favorite parts of the world, but the entirety of it is very visual and vibrant.

Liza is pretty awesome. Her adventurous spirit is infectious and makes me excited to see where she will venture and how she will get out of danger. Her unwavering loyalty is touching and you can really see how much she cares for her brother, even though they fight and annoy each other all the time. She even cares a lot for her family even though they want her to stop bothering them with her "imagination" and generally leave her alone. I loved Liza leading me through her adventures and found her very memorable, intelligent, and inspiring. I liked the thoughtful and determined way she got through every obstacle in her way to get to her brother.

I greatly enjoyed Lauren Oliver's The Spindlers. I found Liesl and Po to be much better because it dealt with real life, significant issues like death, but The Spindlers is still a great adventure story with twists, turns, and a delightful new world.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Paprika

Atsuko Chiba, beautiful and brilliant psychotherapist, is one of the best and brightest working at the Institute for Psychiatric Research. She deftly uses the cutting edge psychotherapy devices that allow therapists to view patients dreams and even insert themselves into or manipulate those dreams to aid therapy. When helping private, rich clients, Atsuko disguises herself as Paprika to conduct therapy sessions in secret. Trouble starts when someone steals one of the psychotherapy devices to use it maliciously and drive people insane. Atsuko must differentiate between the rapidly overlapping worlds of dream and reality to find the culprit.

I was super excited to read Paprika. The plot sounds surreal and amazing plus I've only heard good things about the anime film based on the book. Despite my excitement, I just struggled to finish it. It had a lot of potential. The technology and the innovation with dreams and therapy is incredibly interesting and had the makings for wonderful scenes of surrealism. I just couldn't get past the language and the unlikeable characters. I'm not sure if I didn't like the author's writing or if it was a bad translation, but it was downright painful and stilted. It was as if the translator didn't want to use any pronouns and just repeated everyone's name every time a person was referenced or spoke. It didn't flow well and it grew arduous to read. The characters are terrible. Despite being professional adults who might win prestigious international awards, they are the most petty and immature group ever. Everyone just talks about Atsuko's beauty instead of her abilities or her intelligence. Her colleagues are very childish and whine about their own looks and how everyone hates them. Grow up! You are adults and there are much more important things happening than their middle school level drama. Even Atsuko's therapy was just very ham handed and really seemed like the patient was really diagnosing himself half the time. I grew bored by the end of the novel and just skimmed the ending.

Paprika had a lot of potential with the technology and surrealist elements, but the writing and the intolerable characters just ruined the book for me. I would try to read another book by Yasutaka Tsutsui because it may have been a bad translation.

My rating: 1/5 fishmuffins

My Top 3 Cabin Horror Films

I went on a trip to a cabin in the mountains with my friends this weekend and we had the awesome idea to watch cabin horror films while we were there. Here are my favorite 3 cabin horror films:

1) The Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods is the best horror movie to come out of 2012 and great meta fun. Joss Whedon deconstructs the basic formula of horror films and creates a unique meta film that both pokes fun at the genre and improves it by breaking those formulas. It shows how real people are complex and don't fit into the archetypes of the genre unless they're being plied with chemicals and manipulated by some outside force. It also provides a reason why these stereotypes and this formulaic genre exists. Mix all this up with incredibly quotable dialog and a gory, surprising finish and you have Cabin in the Woods.

2) Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

I stumbled upon this one on Netflix (where it is still streaming. Go watch it!) and I wasn't exactly sure what it was except a horror comedy. I could not stop laughing. This movie is so unexpected and fun. It tells the story of a couple of rednecks, who would normally be murderous and possibly cannibals in such a horror film, who buy an ominous vacation house in the middle of a forest. They just want to fix up their home when they run into some college students that happen to be partying near their new house. Misunderstanding after misunderstanding leads to an injured college girl being nursed to health in their house and all of her friends thinking they are murderous hillbilly psycho killers. It's another movie that turns the genre on its head with delightful and gory results.

3) Wrong Turn

For the longest time, I thought Wrong Turn looked like one of the crappiest horror films ever. I finally watched it on cable one night and was surprised to see many actors I actually liked: Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto, and Desmond Harrington. I was surprised to find it was a well constructed and acted film with frightening mutant hillbillies and a huge amount of suspense. I was on the edge of my seat for much of the film, especially in the scenes where the main characters hide in the cannibalistic hillbillies' house and try to stay quiet while their friends are being slaughtered. Wrong Turn falls into a more typical horror film that follows the formulas of the genre, but it's done well. It's definitely worth a watch.

Please share your own favorite cabin films below!

Les Miserables

The plot for Les Miserables is a complex one, so I will only summarize a little bit. Jean Valjean served 19 years in jail and then sheds his identity to escape his criminal past during during the aftermath of the French Revolution. There is so much more that the film is about, but that's the gist of it. I was extremely excited to see this film. I have been listening to the original cast soundtrack since forever with my family and I've seen the stage play about 5 times. I know every lyric and every musical line. I really didn't expect to see or feel anything different because I am so familiar with the source material. I was proven wonderfully wrong. This film made the music and story fresh and new to me.

The look of the film is realistic and shows what the musical tends to gloss over: the poor, the dirt, the awful living conditions, and the reality of living in France after the French Revolution. The entire story is put into harsh perspective and put me on the edge of tears right from the beginning because of the realistic pain and suffering of the characters. The way Jean Valjean is treated after serving his time in jail and the conditions Fantine is subjected to after losing her job. The whole film has a raw quality that puts it in stark contrast to the stage play. Despite the lyrics and the makeup on stage, the audience doesn't feel the depression and plight of the poor being portrayed. Everything is put into perspective. The barricade is rather slap dash and small because that's what poor people in France would have been able to spare for it as opposed to the huge construct in the play. The lovely ladies look much more dirty and tired with grotesquely painted faces that inspire more pity than desire. Valjean lived in a constant state of paranoia, ready to flee at any moment and unable to make any lasting ties. I loved that the film took the familiar setting and costumes of the play and brought them into reality.

The rawness of the film also extends to the singing, which is probably the most controversial issue. I personally loved the singing and acting. The focus isn't to just sound like a great singer or even to perform the songs flawlessly, but to convey the emotions of the character. These unpolished performances are oftentimes my favorite renditions of the songs over studio versions. The broadway versions are well sung, but don't have the right emotional impact and seem to be too concerned with hitting everything perfectly. Anne Hathaway as Fantine in particular performed phenomenally. Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream moved me to tears when I never thought much of the song before. This portrayal of raw emotion suddenly made this song one of my favorites. Eddie Redmayne as Marius also greatly impressed me, possessing the most wonderful voice out of the whole cast. I had always dismissed him as the annoying, flat Romeo of the play that just mooned over Juliet/Cosette. The film fleshed out some of his backstory and made him a real, likable character with more aspirations and motivations than just his instalove relationship. His performance of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables is among my favorites and I don't think the emotion of that scene has ever been translated that well before. The other actors are good as well, but these two really stood out to me as talented actors that changed my perspective on their characters and songs.

As with any adaptation, the plot and order of events is slightly changed and, for the most part, are improvements to the story. With the play, I was confused as to the logistics of how Valjean escaped with little Cosette and evaded Javert for so long. The film clarifies this and fills in the gaps that were previously left out. Some of the songs were shuffled around a little bit, but the changed order makes more sense to me. Having Lovely Ladies before I Dreamed a Dream makes more sense plotwise and provides the second song with much more emotional impact because Fantine had already hit rock bottom. I appreciated the expansion of Marius' backstory and how he turned his back on his wealthy family to fight for what he felt was right. It showed much more strength and dedication than just the superficial relationship between him and Cosette.

The problems I have with the movie are pretty minor. I hate that a lot of the cinematography during the singing portions is super close up on the actors' faces. I can see a few shots like this for emotional impact, but in every single song is a little excessive. The other annoyance is the shortening or omission of important songs. A Little Fall of Rain is a very important and I was shocked to see that it was shortened. The song Turning was practically taken out altogether save for the very beginning of it. The new song Suddenly didn't really have any impact on the film and I thought it was unneeded when other, better songs were cut short. These are relatively small problems and I felt the film was very successful and effective.

Les Miserables is the best film adaptation of the play I could have asked for. The performances are nothing short of amazing. (Yes, even Russell Crowe was good in his restrained version of Javert.) I have only seen the film once on Christmas and I plan to see it again soon. I would highly recommend it to fans of musicals that don't mind stripped down, imperfect renditions of these songs.

My rating: 9.5/10 fishmuffins

Don't Turn Around

Noa Torson is a genius hacker and has figured out how to have a nice life. She spent years bouncing from foster home to foster home and forced to stay in a government halfway house in between. After setting up fake foster parents and fooling social services, nobody has bothered her and she is free to do as she pleases. Everything is going well until she wakes up on an operating table with no memory of how she got there. Noa escapes, but the organization who operated on her sends a constant stream of thugs to get her back. Peter Gregory is the opposite of Noa: rich, privileged, and enjoys a normal life. He is the founder and head of a hacker community called /ALLIANCE/. When digging into some mysterious files about Project Persephone he found in his father's computer, thugs dressed in black invade his house to rough him up, threaten him, and steal his computer. Shocked and dismayed, Peter reaches out to another hacker, who happens to be Noa, to find out more about Project Persephone. Are the two groups the same? What do they want? What is Project Persephone?

Don't Turn Around is an exciting, fast paced conspiracy thriller. A lot of people have compared this book to Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because of the hacker elements and Noa's similarity to Lisbeth Salander. There are some similarities, but the two works are inherently different because of the age of the characters, the conspiracy aspect in the YA novel, and the overall tone of both books. Don't Turn Around stands on its own. I enjoyed most of the characters. Noa is my favorite character because of her single minded nature and intelligence. Even when she wakes up completely disoriented and scared, but manages to have the presence of mind and strength to evade and escape her captors. Her ability to put aside her emotions and think clearly to solve whatever problem faces her proves to be invaluable and comes from her background. Peter is much more normal and unused to such extreme situations. He comes from a much more comfortable home life, but the death of his brother basically tore apart his family. Creating /ALLIANCE/ allowed him to help people and punish those abusing power. Both characters strive for the same goal despite their differences and the slight romance between them did not overshadow the larger issues in the book.

I had a couple problems with the book. The antagonists are very one dimensional, which makes the main characters seem awesome in comparison. I just felt they needed something extra to make them a little more human. Also, one of my favorite characters is killed and the event only merits a one line mention after the fact. I think it's completely ridiculous to make a great character that the audience would have an attachment to, only to off them in an anticlimactic way that robs any sort of catharsis or real effect.

I enjoyed Don't Turn Around. It's kind of like the Love Actually of YA conspiracy thrillers. Each and every character is woven together quite intricately in unexpected ways. The surgeries, experiments, and black clad thugs are linked to Noa and Peter and basically everyone they know and extends even further than any of them expected. I hope Michelle Gagnon continues that theme into the next 2 installments in this series, which I will definitely read.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Happy New Year and the State of Fishmuffins!

Happy New Year all!!!! I hope you all survived the 5th apocalypse that never happened. I swear I'm starting to feel like Buffy with all these supposed ends of the world. I am looking forward to this year and here is what you can expect from Fishmuffins of Doom:

I usually don't do resolutions because I end up quickly dropping them, but I have some resolutions for my blog this year.

* I resolve to consistently post content even if I get busy with school, which means not procrastinating and getting work done early. This means at least 3 posts a week, even if they are memes or just my thoughts on something.

* I resolve to post more horror content. I want to write at least one post pertaining to horror at least once every 2 weeks because I love it and I want to keep horror readers interested.

* I resolve to write about music more. Music is one of my big passions and I want to write a weekly album review or some such music post consistently.

I really like this blog and I felt I kind of failed at keeping it up in the last part of the year because I was burned out with school. Here's to hoping this year will be better!!!