All throughout this week I will be working on two exciting reviews / projects to release.
The first is for the Old Spice Hawkridge products line including the Body Wash, Body Spray, and Deodorant. I've had the products for a couple months now so I'm excited to finally do a review on them!
The second will be not necessarily a review, but rather a PSA on how you can easily make money online through Crowdtap, even with their recent changes! This blog will show you how you can make extra money in your free time quickly and easily through product testing and giving your opinion on popular products.
Until then, check out some of my other blogs and have a great day!
Hotel Transylvania is a quirky animated movie, out on DVD and Blu-Ray January 29th, mainly directed toward kids and families with younger aged children. Hotel Transylvania features a huge cast of popular and famous stars, such as Cee-Lo Green, Kevin James, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, Selena Gomez, Adam Sandler, and more!
The plot of Hotel Transylvania is a good one for an animated children's movie, but anybody old enough to have hair on their chest may end up easily bored. NOTE: Plot summary incoming! If you would rather not know the plot before watching the movie, skip the italicized text.
On her 118th birthday, Dracula allows his daughter to leave the
castle in order to explore the human world, but he sets up an elaborate
plan using his zombiebellhops
disguised as humans to make them seem intimidating and frighten her
home. The plan works, but the zombies inadvertently lure a human;
21-year-old Jonathan (Andy Samberg) to the hotel. Dracula frantically disguises him as a Flesh Golem
and passes him off as Johnnystein, a distant cousin of Frank's right
arm. Johnny soon encounters Mavis and the two 'Zing'; a form of magical
attraction. Unable to get Johnny out of the hotel without notice, Drac
quickly improvises that Johnny is a party planner, brought in to bring a
fresher approach to his own traditional and boring parties. Johnny
quickly becomes a hit to the other monsters, especially Mavis, and even
begins to gain Dracula's respect. He tells Johnny the reason they hate
humans was for the death of his wife at the hands of an angry mob
shortly after Mavis was born, and is surprised at his understanding and
knowledge of the lore.
Johnny attempts to leave after his confession, but is brought back by
Mavis. After showing her the beauty of a sunrise, she is re-inspired to
give humans another chance. Meanwhile, Quasimodo (John Lovitz)
learns that Johnny is a human and kidnaps him in order to cook him but
Dracula intervenes and magically freezes Quasimodo to keep him from
telling anyone that he is a human. The party is a great success, but
when Mavis kisses Johnny, Dracula is sent over the edge and in his
outburst confesses to deceiving Mavis with the town. Quasimodo, still
frozen, bursts in and The Fly (Chris Parnell)
translates his frozen language that reveals Johnny's humanity, but
Mavis is undeterred by her attraction and wants to be with Johnny, even
though he is human. But Johnny rejects her out of respect for her father
and leaves the hotel.
Discovering that Mavis and Johnny shared a Zing, Dracula manages to
convince the monsters, who are now trying to leave the hotel, to help
him find and reunite them and they learn he is bound on a flight out of
Transylvania soon. They head to the airport and encounter a Monster
Festival along the way, instead of being frightened by the real monsters
appearing, they instead help Dracula by providing him shelter from the
sunlight so he can get to the airport quickly only to see Johnny's plane
taking off. He takes the risk and gives chase, burning in the sunlight.
After getting Johnny's attention, Dracula makes his way to the front of
the plane, using his mind-controlling power to control the pilot (Brian Stack)
to help him apologize for his actions. Johnny accepts Dracula's apology
and Drac manipulates the pilot to return to the Transylvanian airport
for a refuel and Dracula returns Johnny to Mavis, who confesses that
their Zing was mutual and the two kiss, making Dracula realize his
little girl is all grown up and can make her own decisions.
The film ends with Dracula and his friends being shown in traditional animation
(in the style of Genndy Tartakovsky's cartoons) during the credits, as
well as a few paintings of Johnny and Mavis on their travels together.
Hotel Transylvania currently has a 43% on RottenTomatoes.com, 47% on MetaCritic.com, with a 6.8 user score with personal, non professional reviews. But we don't care about snooty critics!
In the end, Hotel Transylvania is a great movie if you have younger people to watch it. It is not really the kind of movie to go on a hot teenage date with, but is most certainly not a bad choice if you did! The choice characters that voice these lively individuals may seem like a wild choice, but it works out really well. I had never even heard of Cee Lo Green outside of a few songs, so to find him in a movie - which was easy to recognize his voice - was pretty entertaining. You then have other actors and actresses such as Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, David Spade, Fran Drescher... it felt like going back to the 90's with some of these characters!
The animation in this movie seems to get hated on quite a bit, but I found it to be really quite good for what it is. They aren't trying to beat Avatar in terms of how it flows, so I think it's quite wrong for most critics to downplay them on account of such. Both the animation and movie itself remind me quite a lot of the Adventure Time show, so if you have watched that and enjoyed it before, you may enjoy Hotel Transylvania as well!
The overall response of my guests towards the Hotel Transylvania was well taken, but some of the guests did get bored with it. The younger kids loved the movie for sure, it was just the teenagers and older crowd that got bored a little easy with the animation style and clean humor.
If you are really on the edge of whether to get the DVD or Blu-Ray disk or not, give the trailer a watch. As with most movies, the trailer is a really good example of the plot, characters, type of humor, and animation.
Because I was given Hotel Transylvania, through Crowdtap,com, to have a party with, (literally!) I was also given other items to watch and go over. Our party was, as the title suggests, Hotel Transylvania Monster Bowl! We had the party on Super Bowl Sunday. More details of the party and other included activities will be below!
GOODNIGHT MR. FOOT EXCLUSIVE MINI-MOVIE
Goodnight Mr. Foot is an animated short based on the movie,
featuring Bigfoot! Taking place before the events in Hotel Transylvania, the short stars Bigfoot, whose rest in Hotel Transylvania is being constantly disturbed by an overly enthusiastic witch maid. It is a funny little short and is available on the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the movie! You may be able to check it out online, and if so, I would definitely recommend it! It's a very cute mini-movie!
Supplemental Questions!
Boy, that sounds weird. Let's try that again.
Bonus Questions! 1. Mavis makes the cutest little sad bat face to her dad Dracula. Does your little one have a look that just makes you want to do whatever they say? Are there other moments in HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA that were directly relatable to your life?
Definitely! I think everybody has that special somebody who can melt their heart and do their bidding with a quick glance of puppy dog eyes. Or in this case, a "sad little bat face."
There's also that time when a parent realizes their child has fallen in love, and of course, doesn't like that.
Something I just noticed, "bat face" sounds insulting. I am now extremely entertained.
2. Dracula throws an awesome 118th birthday party for Mavis. Were there elements of her party that you wish you could have for your own birthday party or your child’s party? Would you love a monster band, dancing mummies or a travel around the world theme?
I'd love to have my own monster band! By the end of the night everybody had turned into dancing mummies, so we had that covered! A traveling around the world theme sounds like a fantastic idea as well. I'm sure there are a lot of ideas one could find online that have that sort of theme!
3. Both Mavis & Dracula have some awesome vampire powers. For example, they can both turn into bats. Which one of their powers do you wish you could have? Or is there another monster FROM THE FILM who has a power you wish you could have?
I'd love to turn into a bat, or crawl on walls like Mavis. I can think of oh so many uses...
Strictly legal uses, of course!
Most of the time.
Hotel Transylvania Themed Recipes!
Scream Cheese Taco Dip When you’re not cheering for your team during the Super Bowl, this dip recipe will surely have you screaming for more!
INSTRUCTIONS:
Soften cream cheese, then add sour cream gradually mixing with mixer. Add bean
dip and taco seasoning. Beat on low speed until well mixed. Put in casserole dish
and top with Cheddar cheese. Cover the casserole and heat in oven at 325 degrees
for 30-45 MINUTES, until heated through. Serve with DORITOS & FRITOS.
What I think about the Scream Cheese Taco Dip: It's yummy! However, if you want to make this yourself, unless you have a REALLY big party or a group of teenagers, you don't need so much! The two packages of cream cheese is a pretty good starting example of how big a dish this makes. It is very good though, I would love to hear about any other dishes like this.
GREEN SLUDGE PUNCH! This GREEN SLUDGE PUNCH recipe is Dracula’s favorite drink to unwind with after a long day, aside from, you know, blood. Green Sludge is a great combination of sour and sweet. Serve in monster themed cups for an added bonus!
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a large pot, combine limeade, lemonade & lemon-lime soda. Mix in lime sherbert
just before serving.
What I think about the Green Sludge Punch: I think... I've made this before! I never used concentrate before, but it worked pretty well in this recipe. Again, unless you're preparing an army for battle, need to fend off a hundred teenagers, or want to impress the president with your punch making skills, you don't need so much. There are a lot of varieties to this recipe; you can likely get off with simply using lemon-lime soda and sherbert.
In our party pack we received valentines day cards, coloring book pages, a calender, and door hangers! I thought these were all really cute; we put a "Party In Progress" door hanger on the front door to our house during the party! I printed out some copies of the calender and gave them out to the kids who attended.
Seeing as this was a Superbowl / Monster Bowl party, we watched the movie and then the Super Bowl right afterward! I planned on writing about how I felt regarding the Superbowl outcome, but remembering how the 49ers failed when they were so close at the two minute mark... well, I think it is best for my sanity that I not mention it all.
The half-time show was pretty good, though! Pretty risque with Beyonce, but we've had worse things bouncing around on live TV before.
However, we did have a bunch of food and drinks! I invited fifteen of my close family and friends, and it was really nice to spend all day with everybody we don't always get a chance to see often. Along with the regular Superbowl snacks, of which we had over twenty bags of chips, we all also
enjoyed the Taco Dip and Punch! Watching Hotel Transylvania for some clean humor and then straight into Superbowl screaming not long after was pretty hilarious in itself. Everybody had a blast, and like the characters of Hotel Transylvania, we'll remember it forever!
I would like to thank Crowdtap and the fine people who made Hotel Transylvania for allowing us to watch the movie, enjoy the extra items and ideas, and all-in-all have a great time.
Picture above is by Tumblr user Mimulii, check their page out!
Today I'll be heading into Staples to get the following offers, all FREE!
Staples Photo Supreme 8.5" x 11" Paper (Limit 2, $15 each)
Staples 8.5" x 11" Multipurpose Paper Ream. (Limit 1, $6.99)
BIC-Matic Grip 0.7" Mechanical Pencils 5/pack (Limit 1, $4.99)
Colored Earbuds (Limit 1, $3.99 value)
You do not need to print anything out for the Photo Supreme paper or the BIC-Matic Mechanical Pencils, but you will need to print out a coupon for the Staples Multipurpose Paper. Go here to print it out!
There is also a deal where you can get a 5 ream case of the Staples Copy Paper for $4.99! BUT... there is actually a way to get this 100% FREE!
Go here, to the Staples Coupon Center, and print off the coupon that says... FREEafter Rewards and with coupon. Staples® 8.5" x 11" copy paper, 5-ream case.
Then, when you go in to get your 5-ream case, after using the coupon, you will get 100% back in rewards!
For the free Colored Earbuds, either check in your paper or pick up the flier in the store to find the coupon for free earbuds with a $25 purchase. Since I plan on getting the Photo Paper, it's already enough to cover the purchase and get the earbuds for free! The Mechanical Pencils and Multipurpose Paper will just be extra free things for me to get and use in the classroom!
If you're wondering how these rebates work, go over here to
read more about them. You can submit all your info online or mail them in You’ll receive your rebates within 4-6 weeks after
submitting them. The Staples Rewards deals are a little different, but basically the same! Instead of submitting the rebates, it will automatically do so and you will get your money back the next month! You can then use your Rewards money to buy more Easy Rebate items, and you'll still get ALL of your money back!
A little bit different from my usual blog, but I figure there may be some people out there who want to kick their smoking habit by trying Electronic Cigarettes. If this sounds like you, then I would suggest you try this offer! I tried the Victory E-Cigarretes offer a couple months ago, and after the hassle that went on with that I don't think I'll be trying this offer. However, if you were not able to get the Victory offer a few months ago, this seems like a great deal - seeing as it's free!
"The South Beach Smoke e-cigarette
is a revolutionary, innovative electric cigarette smoking device which
offers the smoking community a healthier smoking alternative to the
traditional tobacco cigarettes. With no offensive second-hand smoke,
the South Beach Smoke electric cigarettes offer a safer, healthier
environment to both you and the non-smoking community. Simply put, there
is no longer a need for anyone to breathe the unwanted, dangerous
second-hand smoke produced by traditional tobacco cigarettes. Many
people have successfully used electronic cigarettes to quit smoking."
The Deluxe Starter Kit includes:
1 Standard Battery - NEW SuperMAX Battery
1 Extra-Capacity Battery - NEW SuperMAX Battery
1 Portable Wall Charger
5 Large Nicotine Cartridges/Atomizers – Equals 7-8 Packs of Cigarettes (Choice of Flavor & Strength).
"Flavors" are available in traditional tobacco flavor / Menthol, Chocolate, Vanilla, Cherry, Peppermint, Pina Colada or Peach.
You must purchase it by March 31, 2013. (I almost put 2012 here! Silly me.) Once you have purchased it, send the rebate form in within 60 days of your purchase to get your money back!
This deal actually seems a lot better than the Victory deal, they certainly have a lot more "wild" flavors. When I tried the Victory deal I requested their Vanilla flavor, but got "Regular" instead, so that was a disappointment. The good thing about the Victory deal was that you didn't have to pay the $50 or $60 at first, only paying a penny in all. But, then they had the issues of not knowing what they were doing, and ended up charging everyone who did the 1 penny offer for a recurring payment of somewhere between $30 and $50. (NOTE: If you received a recurring payment from Victory, call them and they will fix it instantly. I had to do this myself, although it took about half an hour of being on hold to reach somebody, I did eventually get through. Do not assume that you have to pay it!)
I have not personally tried these guys out; I would recommend doing some review scouring for this product and seeing if it is interesting enough for you to spend your time on.
