August Playlist

Howdy!

I told myself that if I didn’t get anything done this week that I would at least this post ready instead, but I have been feeling great in my legs that I actually left this one for last!

This past month has had a lot of music, both new and old favorites. I even dedicated a full week to just reggaeton music. I actually figured out something pretty interesting (well I thought it was interesting!) while in the mist of this mini adventure.

If you.don’t know by now, I love a large amount of different music, but what I’ve found in the last six years or so, is that I don’t really categorize it by genres, more like where the artist is based out of, they’re nationality. I slowly started to remember why I went that way and it happened when I wasn’t listening to as much rap music I always thought I was, but something kind of drastic occurred at the end of 2008 that I just decided to separate myself from the genre entirely. However, a part of me didn’t want to leave completely because I grew up listening to the genre as a child.

In the meantime, I found reggaeton and I used the fact that none of the artists I listened spoke in English to fall deeper into the genre and began to appreciate the beat thus would help me later in life for creating a bigger love of all genres whether or not I can understand the languages or not. This summer I have been even more interested into the music I’ve been hearing coming out of Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia. Maybe I’ll even highlight some of my favorites in the annual Summer Playlist coming in a couple of weeks.

For now, you get a mixture of the Top 20 songs I listened this August. Hope you enjoy them!

My Turn Now by Hidden Citizens
Bad Bitch by Bebe Rexha featuring Ty Dolla $ign
Mother’s Daughter by Miley Cyrus
Heavy Is The Weight by Memphis May Fire featuring Andy Mineo
The Fall by Banks
Say My Name by David Guetta featuring Bebe Rexha & J Balvin
Banana by Anitta featuring Becky G
If U Seek Amy by Britney Spears
The Violence by Asking Alexandria
True Friends by Bring Me The Horizon
Loco Contigo by DJ Snake featuring J Balvin & Tyga
Queen Of Mean by Sarah Jeffrey
China by Anuel AA feat. Ozuna, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin & Karol G
What A Girl Wants by Christina Aguilera
What’s My Name by China Anne McClain
Don’t Call Me Up by Mabel
Move Shake Hide by Marmozets
Crawl Back In by Dead By Sunrise
Runaway by Sebastien Yatra featuring Jonas Brothers, Natti Natasha & Daddy Yankee
Kill This Love by Blackpink

I am really missing my Spotify mostly because I miss doing my music reviews on here. I used to have good size amount of stuff to talk about in a month and now I feel like I am scraping the bottom of the barrel. I have thought about opening my blog back up to artists and bands again, because at least that would keep me active on here but I don’t know if it would help me out as much either.

If you’re an artist or band with new music out on YouTube and would like some free promotion, please let me know and maybe you can be featured on my blog! You can contact me at: gotmeghan.blog@gmail.com with your information. Let’s work something out that helps both of us out a little. 🙂

What were you listening in the month of August? Any favorites?

6 Halloween Movies For Kids!

Howdy!

Since I’m not able to decorate pumpkins this year, I had to come up with another Halloween-y post for you guys and I thought collecting a bunch of movies that you either have seen at different parts of your life or not at all. For this list, I decided to talk about what is kid-friendly, it might be movies you remember watching with your parents or at a sleepover with your cousins or friends growing up. I tried to board out my search of different movies and I really like the lineup I have so far, and I hope you enjoy them as well!

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The first time I ever watched this movie was in seventh grade, weirdly enough three days before we went on Christmas break. There are not very many movies that can pass being two holiday movie lists, but this is one! Unfortunately, I didn’t want to watch it and was very happy to be sitting in the back of the room. It wasn’t until about three years later that I finally watched it on my own and I actually kind of enjoyed it.

I think this is a good, fun movie for young kids to watch because they will love the characters, but be careful they do show the Bogeyman and other monsters in the closet and under the bed, so there’s that part to watch out for the younger kids!

Halloweentown (1998)

I love Halloweentown! However, like TNBC I did not want to watch this when it aired on the Disney Channel one October night at a friend’s house. I wasn’t the bravest of kids in my age as you can see, but my sister and her friend stayed up and watched it. You’re never going to believe this, but I actually fell asleep before it even started, so at one point of time, I could fall asleep on cue apparently!

So what changed? I think I was always haunted by the fact that I couldn’t watch it back then that once I got into high school I was like, “you have to suck it up” and it’s been one of my favorite Disney Channel franchises, and my favorite one being Halloweentown High. The last one isn’t really the best because they replace Kimberly J. Brown to Sara Paxton. Nonetheless, the films are good and they’re not really dark, some of the costumes are a little “scary” for some young kids, but other than that it’s a Disney so your child should (grow to) like it very much.

Alvin and The Chipmunks: Meet The Wolfman (2000)

When I decided that I wanted to write this post, this was actually the first movie that popped into my head. I remember watching this as a kid with my sister, who would have been in preschool at the time. We rarely watched Alvin and The Chipmunks and honestly I haven’t seen any of the sequals of the newer films, so the fact that this made the cut is interesting for me. I try to watch it whenever it’s on, even if I miss the majority of it!

If you’re looking for a cartoon-ish, Halloween movie for your children to watch, I’d definitely recommend this because this is generally adorable then spooky. If you didn’t love the Chipmunks, especially Theodore, you will after watching this film.

Mom’s Got A Date With A Vampire (2000)

This is another favorite of mine, that unlike the first two movies I talked about, this was easier to get into and maybe it was because Charles Shaughnessy was in it! You have to understand that when this came on, I was busy watching Full House, Mad About You, Family Matters, and The Nanny with my mother almost every other day with a bowl of potato chips for an afternoon snack when we came home from school! I don’t remember watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch so this is how I fell in love with Caroline Rhea for the first time.

You can find this on Disney Channel too! It likes to creep up on me sometimes, because there will be times where it’s easy to find but then they don’t play it at all and that part really sucks! It is a nice Halloween movie for kids, Charles is somewhat spooky but it’s mostly because of his accent and hair!

Twitches (2005)

I literally almost forgot about this one! It does help if you make sure you have the right amount of movies that it says on your banner before saying you’re done for the day! Anyways, Twitches is such a good movie, I’d say it’s a safe movie that discusses witches in general, but what I really enjoyed about it was seeing real twins Tia and Tamara Mowry play separated after birth sisters that are indeed witches. However, the real part I loved about it were Karsh and Ilena, they are absolutely hilarious and really bring the comic relief to this movie.

This movie has some dark tones in it, but I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal for someone over the age of seven, but that’s only my opinion! I think kids will enjoy the fantasy and magic being shown between the characters, and will hopefully see through the character Thantos’s scary demeanor.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Are you surprised to see a recent release on my list? I actually had a hard time finding movies that I had seen that would work for this, and HT was the only one that fit the bill. I actually enjoyed this film, unfortunately I have yet to watch the other two and I do want to see them, because I really like the cast who are voicing these characters: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, and David Spade just to name a few.

This film is really nice, it’s not too scary for kids, it could actually help children understand to never to assume the worst out of people. I actually like this direction of the story of Count Dracula, they made the character slightly approachable whereas how they will probably learn of the real story of him, so right now this is family friendly enough right now!

So now we’re finished with the first list! I had lots of fun telling kind of embarrassing stories of my childhood on my blog again.. Oh, just wait until we get to the adult post, you’ll probably be laughing at me while reading it. I originally had seven on this, but I realized that I had two movies that I haven’t really seen a whole lot, so I figured it would be easier to talk about ones that I have watched and liked throughout the years instead. Before I go, I wanted to list a couple of TV shows for kids that have a sort of a spooky flare: Goosebumps, Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

What are your thoughts of the movies above? Which one is your favorite?

 

An Ode To My Pokemon Days

Howdy!

Today’s post is going to be a little different. Technically, a part of me wanted this to be written like my non-Disney posts because what we’re going to be discussing is definitely not Disney related by any means! However, I have a lot of stories to tell that I think you will love to hear, my sister will want to yell at me afterwards, but I’m willing to take the risk anyways!

Blondie and I grew up in the 90’s; since we were somewhat close in age, we liked some of the same things, but she was also my shadow in a way, learning off of me and what I did, which in a way is a little weird, but the fact that I’m the one that taught her to write her name in both print and cursive before she entered the grade where they teach kids to do that!

Anyways, as I was getting on into my teenage years, we were both discovering things in different directions, but one thing that we seemed to like a lot was Pokemon. Later on, I actually started to explore Digimon, because I thought Blondie was just obsessed with Ash and Pikachu, that I felt I didn’t want to take over what she liked, funnily enough, my mindset for that is actually a reason why I don’t want to dive back into rap music again. That’s her thing and I just don’t want to overstep on what she likes.

Anyways, when we were little, this was the one thing that we both loved. However, I think she went a little overboard with it. She was in preschool when we started watching it, and she made everybody call her “Ash” and she would dress up and act like she was going to go on this big adventure to become a Pokemon trainer at probably six years old! One Halloween, she and I dressed up in our favorite characters. She was Pikachu and I was Charmander. Now we went trick-or-treating at my nana’s house and this was a time where our grandparents had a screen door that had a smaller window on the door itself and I’m not kidding when I say, another kid in a Pikachu costume came up to the door and she and this kid were acting like mimes, they were so happy to see each other like whenever Pikachu finds others like him on the show!

I recently started watching the very first season, I guess it’s called Indigo League and it’s weird as crap that there are episodes that I seriously remember so vividly! Apparently in that one season, there are roughly 52 episodes and I did not realize that until I went scrolling down through the description. I’m hoping one day I’ll be able to actually finish it, because I think I missed it. Now that I’m older and can be hormonal, some scenes have made very sad. The episode we’re introduced to Caterpie got me big time. I literally couldn’t finish the rest of the episode because I knew it would eventually make cry!

Last year, there was a really fun chat on Twitter called #nerdybloggers and unfortunately, we don’t have it anymore, but this one theme has been ringing off and on in my head because I think it would be a fun post to do and I know it would make other people that read my blog remember enjoying Pokemon, whether it was playing the games, watching the shows or movies, and even collecting all of the movies throughout their childhood, so better late than never that I decide to do this now!

Since I’m part of the earlier generation, I only picked the ones that were on the original 150 Pokemon, or at least I tried to! I know there are people who would probably say they wanted to be water Pokemon trainers or whatever. Apparently, mine was always based off if they were adorable or not.

Celebi, Eevee, Mew, Jiggypuff, Pichu, Vulpix, Caterpie, Butterfree, Pidgey, Ninetales, Persian, Growlithe, Rapidash, Dewgong, Horsea, Goldeen, Staryu, Jolteon, Moltres, Chikorita, Teddivrsa

Now that I’ve listed my favorites, I want to know which ones you liked! Oh, and since I said I liked Digimon, would you like another post about that too?

 

Favorite Family Friendly Films!

Howdy!

You know, I look at my sister and wonder about her sense of humor a lot. She can laugh at the silliest things! She will share different videos on her social media outlets and even at family gatherings, that can be both scary and shocking at the same time! How can she (and Brandon too!) think some of these ridiculous things can be comical? I credit myself for sticking to myself on what makes things funny, and I usually always go for movies that have very few sexual and offensive jokes in it. I enjoy the cleaner and fun family friendly movies.

This list is complied of different comedies and dramas that I’ve enjoyed both as a teenager and an adult. To me, they’re timeless and I can actually see some relatable things in the film; I find it a bit odd that there are characters that remind me of the cleaner versions of my family members! If you’ve never seen any of these movies or haven’t watched some of them in a long time, I strongly suggest you make time in your day to watch one or two at least.

Father Of The Bride (1991) – Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams, Martin Short

I actually watched this movie for the first time in a really long time a few months ago! My mom recorded it back in January and she’s the one that showed it to me. Growing up, the two of us kind of enjoyed the second movie better, but after I watched it after all this time, I thought this was better!

How is this relatable though? Well, I literally saw things in this movie that we dealt with my dad before Blondie got married. There were WAY too many similarities! I also want to show this to my dad and say, at least she didn’t want a wedding planner like Franck! Now that I’ve watched it, I find it very cute and yes, I cried while watching it and as I remembered Blondie’s own wedding. I was sort of a mess by the end of the night!

Beethoven (1992) – Charles Gordin, Bonnie Hunt, Nicholle Tom, Christopher Castile, Sarah Rose Karr

This movie always makes me cry! The beginning would just break my heart, nobody wanted him and when somebody did, they wanted to hurt the poor guy! I remember watching this a lot as a kid, and blame it on my sister to always pick it! She was like a damn ox, she could get through every sad part in a movie, whereas I am definitely my mother’s daughter who usually has tears rolling down my cheeks before the climax of the saddest scene ever!

I think one of my favorite scenes is when Beethoven goes off on a little afternoon adventure and finds a child who will share an ice cream cone with him. Now as an adult, I find this absolutely disgusting (even though my dad does this with ChiChi with both Popsicles and suckers!) I just thought it was so cute back in the day! I also love the doggy standoff at the end of the movie. You have this row of both large and tiny dogs ready and willing to attack these dognappers and that crazy vet.

Casper (1995) – Christina Ricci, Malachi Pearson, Bill Pullham, Cathy Moriarty

One of my favorite movies from my childhood is Casper! I always found it weird that I was never interested in ghosts or spirits after watching this though!

This one also makes me cry. Man, every single one has made me bawl my eyes out so far! I think it was last scene while the “human” Casper is dancing with Cat, and James sees his dead wife Amelia float up to him, those scenes always get me going but as bittersweet they are, I do enjoy the film as a whole! The uncles are absolutely hilarious and I have been known to quote some of the infamous scenes too.

Dr. Dolittle (1998) – Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wilson, Norm Macdonald, Chris Rock

I love this movie, but if you were ask other members of my family, they’ll probably tell you that the second was better! The bear was freaking hilarious! Anyways, this was good, but I think because of how serve the tiger’s condition was, it made my mom, Blondie and I all cry our eyes out!

I really loved the funny scenes involving Lucky, the drunken Monkey, and Rodney the Guinea Pig. The part where Lucky (poor dog) is getting checked out at the vet and that German Shepherd is like being dragged across the floor because he knows he’s about to get fixed and he’s basically pleading with his owner with “please, I’ll never look at another poodle again” and yet as one walks right out of the door, it immediately captures his attention, after they pause to let them through the doorway, the poor dog is back to begging. Of course, the best part is when it’s Lucky’s turn and the vet just without warning just puts his hand up Lucky’s butt and the only thing that Lucky can say at that moment of impact is “Hello!” I just crack up instantly, because it’s the best if not the only reaction, one would have at that moment.

Rush Hour (1998) – Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan, Elizabeth Pena, Tzi Ma, Tom Wilkenson

This is a movie where you can watch in the morning, afternoon, or late at night. It’s one of those that can help boost your mood because it is just so freaking funny. Even though, this is a movie where watching it in closed captions should be a requirement because you can have a little bit of trouble understanding Jackie Chan in certain scenes, I still thoroughly enjoy it.

Cheaper By The Dozen (2004) – Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, Alyson Stoner

When my mom recorded the remakes of Father Of The Bride, I actually found this one playing on Starz quite a bit and I instantly had to watch it too. It’s been a really long time since I’d seen it, but I do remember the laughs and especially the pranks played on Nora’s boyfriend Hank, played by Ashton Krutcher. Gosh, he was so perfect for that role, because he was so funny as this stereotypical model, only thinking of himself. The younger kids were the best jokesters on the planet.

I know I probably could have added a few more onto this list, but I actually had to remove a couple because I think I will do another post that’s similar to this post, because it involves animals. I actually have three other movie inspired posts coming soon, so you’ll have to keep an eye open for those too!

What are some of your favorite family oriented films? Are you a purist when it comes to comedy or do you mind it being a little obnoxious like my sister? 

Non-Disney | Nickelodeon

Howdy!

I think if you’re going to do a Non-Disney movie post, I think it would be an insult to not talk about Nickelodeon. If you were a child of the 80’s or early 90’s, Nickelodeon was the best network for kids. Now if you were born sometime past mid-90’s and into the early 00’s you probably think the same thing about old school Disney. Personally, I will always be #TeamNickelodeon because I have more memories of it, whereas my sister is definitely #TeamDisney but she might be on that side because of her obsession of both High School Musical and Camp Rock movies!

I did discover something while I was researching for this post. I absolutely loved Doug’s 1st Movie as a kid. It came out in 1999 and I was going to put it on this post, but as I was reading online, I found out that the film was done by DISNEY! What the hell?! Maybe that’s one of the reasons why everybody is so divided between these two networks! However, I was not even ten years old when it came out and I’m in my mid-20’s now and I’m just finding this out!

Anywho, let’s move onto the actual list of movies for this post!

The Rugrats Movie (1998) E.G. Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, and Cheryl Chase

Rugrats has been at the top of my favorites. Since the whole network decided to bring back the older Nickelodeon shows, on a channel called “NickSplat” I can enjoy watching some of my favorites late at night instead of having to wake up somewhat early on the weekends! However, if you want to watch both Rugrats and Hey Arnold, you have to stay up past midnight to watch either one! So either way I’m screwed!

This was my favorite Rugrats film. I did enjoy the one based in Paris, France and I loved the fact that they brought in both Kira and Kimi, but the first one though is both hilarious and sad at the same time. I’m thankful I wasn’t like that when Blondie was born, but at four years old, I think I was ready to have a sibling around me. And there are a lot of good scenes but there’s no other scene more heartbreaking then the one that the gif I used represents.

Hey, Arnold! The Movie (2002) Spencer Klein, Francesca Marie Smith, and Jamil Walker Smith

Sadly I don’t remember much of what this movie was about, I do know that Arnold and Gerald dress up like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black and Helga finally snaps and as you can see, kisses Arnold without giving a shit. Other than that, I don’t really know anything else.

A part of me wished I was this considerate to the people around when I was in school; instead I was ambitious and cocky. That’s exactly the best combination I will add! Anyways, I had tried to a blog post sometime last year about some of the life lessons you could learn by watching a couple episodes a night. Arnold cared for the people who was friends and sometimes loathed, he didn’t care about his feelings, he always tried to help them out. I mean, look at stoop kid for crying out loud!

The Wild Thornberry’s Movie (2002) Lacey Chabert, Tim Curry, Jodi Carlisle, and Danielle Harris

This is another film that I don’t remember that much! I did enjoy some of the episodes as a kid, but TWT were like As Told By Ginger, I liked it, but it wasn’t in my top five shows I watched as a young kid. What makes it worse is Splat doesn’t even play these shows or Rocket Power anymore!

It does freak me out that Lacey Chabert was the one who voiced Eliza though! And Danielle Harris is a freaking scream queen now! She’s also the girl who played “Molly” on a couple episodes of Roseanne if the name doesn’t exactly help enough.

What did you love to watch on TV as a kid? And let’s have some fun, were you on Team Nickelodeon or Team Disney? Visit my blog’s Facebook page around 1:30pm EST to answer a poll about my next “Non-Disney” theme!