I wasn't going to blog about the end of 2015, but I think it's a good idea to close the door on it in a literary sense. I've realized that more people than I had thought had a similar year to me, finding 2015 extremely tough.

Straight away I will admit that I have not read the book written by Emma Donoghue. But I plan to. This film caught my eye because I learned that Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, someone I greatly admire was directing the film and that there were Irish people working on the film. I didn't know much going into the film, which was a blessing in this case.

Despite Christmas 2015 not feeling like Christmas at ALL, I received some beautiful presents that I am extremely grateful for. One of the most special ones was the Rookie Yearbook Four. I had wanted to get one for years, having been an avid fan of the website, but kept putting it off.

Everyone is always browsing online for things to buy, be it clothes, cameras, a handmade item you found on etsy.com. For me I am always looking but manys the time I never actually buy any of these things. I have decided to make a little series on this, just showing you the beautiful things I've come across on my travels online. I will try include an assortment of these things: item of jewellery, clothes, music and books. Hope you like this.

Hello there!

Disclaimer: I'm not looking for pity or attention here. I could have posted this months ago, but UL has a really good attitude on mental health so I'm hoping you will too. I hope it helps in some way :)

I felt it was time to discuss something that I have really wanted to talk about. I haven't written this sooner for many reasons. One: I haven't had the time, Two: I didn't want to own up to that fact that I suffer from this, and Three: I am absolutely terrified of people's reaction to it. I know a few bloggers that I am aware of have covered it but I'd like to do it also. So here's the word: ANXIETY.

On Friday, our filmmaking society held its first ever event, a lock-in. A lock-in is where you are locked into a place overnight and you generally cannot leave. We planned to watch as many films as possible during this time.You wouldn't believe how much work went into planning it. I've so many people to thank, but I'll save that for this post's conclusion.

Now I know practically everyone who reads this blog knows who Emma Watson is. Of course, 99% of you will have first seen in her in Harry Potter. However, what I'm most interested here is her charity work and work for UN Women.

I've been back to college just over a month now and I thought I'd fill you in on the things I've learned so far. It's been a wild ride so far. I can't say for certain that I've been overwhelming happy for most of the last few weeks but I've definitely attempted to take myself out of my comfort zone.

I've realized even more so this year how much of a community UL actually is. In times of loss, (So far this year two second years have unfortunately passed away), in times of celebration (Fresher's week, football and rugby matches and at International night). I remind myself all the time how proud and honoured I am to be attending such an amazing university filled with beautiful, intelligent, funny and creative people. Despite feeling alienated here at times, I wouldn't want to move to a different college when I really think about it. I've compiled a list of sorts, detailing a few things I've learned so far this semester.

Life in college has been very hectic, what with sorting out our filmmaking society, catching up with people, doing assignments and trying to do all of this without having Wifi at home. It's almost embarrassing to admit that I can't function properly without having 24/7 access to Wifi but it's true. There's so much you can't do without it. I've found it hard to keep up with my studies, this blog, communicating effectively with friends and family. However, I've had to discover ways to pass the time without Wifi. And almost four weeks in I can say that I'm almost used to a Wifi free life. SHOCK HORROR. Here's some of the things you can do to pass the time without Wifi. Maybe it'll encourage you to take a break from the internet, show you that there's more to life than Wifi and you can try out some fun activities!

First of all, a big thank you to Martha Sheridan for suggesting and encouraging me to post about Amandla Stenberg. I had been considering to post about Amandla, but I had covered her in different posts so was unsure. But she's such an inspiring individual that I think talking about her is a good idea!

Yesterday I watched "Legend" in the Odeon here in Limerick. If you know me you'll know that I am very picky when it comes to film choice and I will thoroughly reserarch a film before I think about watching it. It's just the way I am! However I'm always very interested in films based on true stories, and this is loosely based on two people who existed and died, not long ago.

(WARNING SPOILER ALERT).

I started writing this the day before I turned twenty, because I mean, it's my last day being a teenager. Lots of people don't care about turning twenty but I really really do. It's honestly felt like my teenage years have lasted forever. I'm writing this and I know that my perspective is tainted by a lot of negative things, but I guess this post will be something interesting to look back on, years later even.
It's weird talking about myself so much, it's safe to say that this is my most personal blog post. I wrote a personal one already this summer, some of you have probably read it. I guess all I can say is that I had to get my thoughts out at the time and I guess this post is the same thing. It's going to be a long one!

I've decided to start a new topic on the blog. Young People To Watch. Because I am a young person and I really like discussing young successful people.

First up is Tavi Gevinson, a nineteen year old from Oak Park, Illinois. Friends with Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, Lorde, Amandla Stenberg, Emma Watson and so many more, Tavi is someone I genuinely look up to. You probably have seen me mention Tavi if you follow me on Twitter, or like my blog’s Facebook page. I've posted articles from rookiemag.com.

I actually wrote a post about my fears of going into first year and a diary of my first week in college. Of course, I was very excited about this new experience to come, but as a naturally very shy person I was freaking out at the thought of being around so many strangers. Going into a new course basically alone was a huge deal for me. Back home I had a few very close friends and heading into the unknown scared me.

Of course this post is hugely inspired by the hunting and killing of Zimbabwe's most famous lion, Cecil. But for years I've been a huge supporter of animal conservation. The whole situation infuriates me so much. For years I've been speaking out against animal cruelty, poachers and hunting etc. I'm sure so many of you have done the same,whether it's signing a petition to protect a dog or even just voicing your opinion among your friends.

Unfortunately I will not be attending Indiependence this year. I had been planning to go but a couple of things fell through. No matter though, as I decided to go on the hunt for bands that were playing there, to hear from them before they played the highly anticipated festival in Mitchelstown Co Cork.

I have to admit, when I got the idea for this post, I was both excited and nervous. These posts can be received in a strong NEGATIVE way or a strong POSITIVE way. My aim in this post is to spread awareness really, and to try and show those who, like myself before I did proper research, may not know much about this ongoing issue.


So I’ve a few things to clarify: 

1- I am not preaching. I am expressing my opinion on an issue that is PAINFULLY ignored by large portions of the media WORLDWIDE.

2- I don’t know all the facts. I have researched for this post but of course, there are details, facts and points that I may miss out in this post. Please excuse me if I’m woefully ignorant of important details and feel free to educate me. I'd rather learn the facts than be ignorant of them.

3- This is the opinion of a white, middle class college student who lives a VERY comfortable life and there is no way that I can ever fully know what it’s like to live as a black person who very often experiences violence, verbal abuse, exclusion, racism and cruelty based on their culture/skin colour etc. I don't know what you all go through. I see it second hand only.
This post is largely inspired by the death and prosecution of Texan resident Sandra Bland, an African American woman who was pulled over by a white police man for a minor traffic violation, was subsequently treated in a discriminatory manner, arrested and died after three days in police custody.
I also was inspired by the Twitter exchange between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj and the Instagram picture that Kylie Jenner posted with Amandla Stenberg commenting a reply.

I posted about Amandla in this blog post and also discussed young people who use their voices to speak out about issues that affect them.



While trying to educate myself further I came across an article from Indiewire which talks about black celebrities in the US are trying to be heard over the loud and powerful white celebrities which makes interesting points. Read it here.

I also read an article on a very good, educational and expressive magazine called Ebony, which is dedicated to the African American market. Ebony is a magazine that is released once a month for the African American market. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson it covers the exact same things as magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue etc, topics such as careers and finance, love and sex, life, style and entertainment etc. An interesting article talked about how Amandla was labelled an "angry black girl" and talks about how she should be given the same rights to speak and express her opinion. Read it here.

I’ve never ever been told by my parents growing up that having different colour skin makes you less of a person. Never. I can’t recall a moment where my parents told me black and white people were any different from one another other than the colour of their skin. But it’s very easy for me to comment on this when I haven’t experienced racism in any shape or form.


In my third year of secondary school I studied the novel “Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry” a novel set in the deep south of North America in the 1930's. I don't like to use Wikipedia as a reference much anymore as in college we are told not to use it, but in this case it gives a good summary of the novel.
Films such as 12 Years A Slave and Django Unchained depict the horrifying cruelty that black people were subjected to on cotton plantations. All these films have been deemed monumental, inspiring and masterpieces in their own right. They are in the field of film. It just makes me sad to think that most of these novels or films have a large basis in truth or in fact are based on true stories. Real people lived through those times of oppression, cruelty and slavery. Obviously it’s important to note that TODAY, black people go through the same harsh treatment by members of the public all over the world.

I found this on Twitter while scrolling through hashtags.

In 2012, when gorgeous Amandla Stenberg was revealed as the actress to play Rue in The Hunger Games film, portions of the media went haywire. Some fans of the book stated they would not watch the film because of the choice of actress. I was very confused at the time. I remembering thinking, she’s (Amandla) beautiful, why are they so offended by this? I then went and started flicking through the pages of the novel “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. There was no mention of Rue being white. For some reason, I wasn’t affected by the choice of a black actress. It genuinely did not matter to me. But for many readers it did and that fact alone should make you think.

Source HollywoodLife.com a tabloid magazine who I knew would take Kylie's side. Look at the use of the word "attack".

Amandla is a very outspoken young woman. I personally am in awe of her intelligence.
Kylie Jenner posted an image of herself on instagram wearing cornrows, accompanied with the hashtag #whitegirlsdoitbetter. Amandla criticised Kylie's use of the hashtag and stated that Kylie should use her power and influence to spread awareness on police brutality. Something that was interesting about this story was that in many articles talking of the exchange between the two teenagers they stated that Amandla “attacked” Kylie. This word suggests that Amandla was verbally abusive, cruel or even defamatory towards 17 year old Kylie.

Amandla "slams" Miley. Another suggestion of violence or threat.

The truth is that 16 year old Amandla did nothing of the sort. She just spoke about cultural appropriation. I had to research those words to understand them fully. The definition of cultural appropriation is "the use or adoption of parts of a culture, by members of a different culture". Usually, members of a dominant culture take parts of an oppressed culture and take it as their own.

Many portions of the media also ran with the label “angry black girl” which Amandla responded with the tweet:

Amandla's response on Kylie's photo.

My take on the trend is that the hashtag #blacklivesmatter is being used by black people to make the point that their lives matter too and use the word “black” only as MANY MANY times in the past black lives have been depicted as nothing, as worthless. This is not my opinion of course. When you recall the cases of Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice in most of these cases the victims (all of which were black Americans) were treated in an unthinking and cruel way.

SANDRA BLAND, TAMIR RICE AND ERIC GARNER. Important to note that these three people are dead.

In the past year alone Ireland has made monumental steps forward. Think the referendum in May, where Ireland became the first country in the WORLD to vote in Same Sex Marriage by popular vote. The world celebrated with us and it got me thinking. I began to think of what a modern Ireland meant to me. I haven't lived on this earth very long, I'm in my twentieth year of life, but I have seen so much change in my country. Positive change and it makes me very excited to be a young person in this country.

I remember the first time I came across Saoirse Ronan's work. I was fourteen years old and was on an aeroplane from Shannon, Ireland to the US. I was bored and started flicking through the in flight entertainment when I came across "The Lovely Bones". From then on, I kept up to date with Saoirse's work. A few weeks ago, which have felt like an eternity, let me tell you managed to get in contact with her PR and I didn't expect any response as I've tried before to no avail. However, I am so excited to tell you that Saoirse responded.

Here goes:

Some of the people I know that like my blog's Facebook page will not like this blog post. Simply because they may not like the artist I'm talking about or they will feel that it'll be uncool to like the artist I'm talking about. Nevertheless I'll continue.

Last week the trailer of the latest adaption of "Macbeth" was released, starring Michael Fassbender and actress Marion Cotillard.

I suppose this caught my eye because I studied this world renowned Shakespearan drama for my Leaving Cert in 2014. God knows I remember Ms Barrett giving us quote after quote to learn off by heart. At the time I hated spending hours and hours, studying character questions and reeling off quote after quote in front of the class.

The film looks really really interesting and I'm going to talk fondly about this familiar play:

For those who are new to the blog, I have a huge interest in film. I’m always checking Youtube.com for new film trailers, or watching old ones. I like to keep up to date with the films generating Oscar buzz and some of the more lesser known films. While on Youtube I found myself searching for film trailers..

Recently I came across a beautiful film trailer of an upcoming film. It’s called “Le Petit Prince”.Of course, there is an English language version being released, but the French version was the one I discovered first.I studied the language for six years and am by no means fluent, but I still enjoyed the trailer.This is the first animated feature film adaption of the novella and was shown at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

I was genuinely moved watching the trailer, especially during the scenes between The Little Prince and the fox.

Animation is something I absolutely adore, when done right it can be breathtaking. Some of my favourite films are animations. I did a blog post on Oscar nominated Irish film studio Cartoon SaloonThe animation in "Le Petit Prince" is lovely and what I really really like is that the animators are French and the work is not done by internationally famous animation studio “Dreamworks”.
I like when other animation studios get their big breaks. The film was animated by a small French-based studio called ON Entertainment. What is particularly notable is the animation of the little Prince and the fox. The story genuinely touched me and no doubt countless French children were brought up being read this novella.



The film is directed by Mark Osbourne, the director of "Kung Fu Panda". The film is done in an interesting way, the dream-like sequence of the story of the little prince is done in stop motion animation whereas the little girl's story is CG-animated. The two types of animation work together brilliantly in my opinion and I have to confess I prefer the stop motion animation sequences. Nonetheless, the film is beautiful.

The plot of the story goes as follows:

We meet The Little Girl, who's being prepared by her mother for the an adult world.
Then she meets The Aviator, her eccentric and kind neighbour who tells her his story, of how he met The Little Prince and the world from which The Little Prince came from. The Little Girl begins to learn how being a child is essential and that human connections are what really matters.


The film, not the first of its kind, is based on a novella first published in 1943 by French aristocrat, writer, poet and aviator Antoine de Saint- Exupéry.

I hope that it’s see the French language version here in Ireland as opposed to the English language version, because I think that because the film is based on a French book, it would be better to see it in French, with English subtitles.

The author himself illustrated the book and even the cover of the book is lovely. It features The Little Prince and the planet from which he came from.

Antoine de Saint- Exupéry's "Le Petit Prince" is said to be an "iconic masterpiece", many film adaptations have been made, but never an animated film, until now.

Eoin Corbett.

Adam O' Dwyer.

Game of Thrones, partially filmed in Northern Ireland.

"Boogaloo and Graham" Northern Irish film (2014).

"A Nightingale Falling" an Irish film (2014)

Glassland. Irish film. 2015.